Plastering

Ask around among old-house aficionados in Annapolis, Maryland, for a quality plasterer, and chances are Wally Lerner's name will emerge.

Wally owns Wallace Plastering. Even among his peers, he is known as a careful, meticulous and skilled craftsman -- the guy you want on your team when you've got a complicated job ahead of you.

In recent months, Wally has spent much of his time at The Pleasant Plains, a 170-year-old Annapolis farm house. The house is owned by Philip and Sue Dodds. Built in 1830, it is Philip's ancestral home.

After the home's restoration is completed this summer, it will go on public display in September as the Designers Show House to benefit the Anne Arundel Medical Center Auxiliary in late September, 2000. After that the Dodds will move in.

While the Dodds say they won't share their team of craftsmen with fellow readers until their own project is complete, they have been been kind enough to share photos and their story with The Old House Web.

This is the story of Wally's work. It is the first of several that will appear in The Old House Web on restoration work at The Pleasant Plains.

The Project:

• Completely replaster all three floors and the wing
• Replace all wiring and plumbing
• Install a new heating and air conditioning system
• Complete needed major structural work, including replacement of carrying beams

Demolition began in late 1999, and the majority of structural work was completed early in 2000.

Working from the top down, the interior walls were refurbished, replastered, and new mechanical services installed.

The Auxiliary has use of the premises starting August 2000.