Clay plaster for a 50’s ranch style green remodel – 2012

Kim & Dean own a ranch style house in the suburbs of San Diego. This home was typical of many houses in San Diego until Kim & Dean decided to give it an energy upgrade and green facelift. They added blown cellulose insulation in the attic and walls, solar panels (which also charge their electric car) on the roof, bamboo flooring throughout, low-flow faucets, dual-flush toilets, recycled-content tile, and American Clay plaster on the walls and ceilings. Their home has been transformed from plain and inefficient to richly textured and snug. We were happy to be a piece in this transformation.

The house had a few challenges. The insulation contractor who put a hole in every stud bay had a different definition of “paint-ready” than we do. Luckily, plaster can hide a lot that paint would show. Also, the walls of this house had been coated with something that caused tiny bubbles in our clay plaster which had to be burnished out. Parts of the ceiling had some delamination issues that we had to solve. But we don’t shy away from a challenge and enjoyed transforming this piece of suburbia into a lovely space to inhabit.