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Mike Merola & Sons Plastering
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Pittsburgh's Plaster Molding Repair Specialists

Crown Molding & Plaster Molding Repairin Pittsburgh, PA

Cracked, broken, painted over or missing lengths of plaster crown molding put right. Mike Merola & Sons repairs damaged moldings in Pittsburgh homes and matches the new work to the profile already on your wall.

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✓ 30+ Years of Hands-On Plastering ✓ Fifth Generation Family Business ✓ Serving Pittsburgh Since 1997
Cornice & Molding

Plaster Molding Repair in Pittsburgh, PA

Repairing a molding is not the same job as making one. The shape is already fixed by whoever ran it a hundred years ago, and every decision after that is about getting back to it. The damaged length has to be cut out at a sensible point, the profile has to be taken off the run that survives, and the new plaster has to arrive at the same projection, the same depth and the same shadow line as the molding either side of it. That is the work the Merola family has been doing in Pittsburgh homes since 1997, and the standard, in the owner's father's words, is quality, long lasting work.

Our Process

How It Works

The same four steps on every job, whatever the work turns out to be.

01

Free Consultation & Quote

Give us a call or submit a quote request online. We will discuss your project, arrange a visit to your Pittsburgh-area home, and provide a detailed, no-obligation estimate. No surprises, no pressure.

02

Scheduling & Preparation

Once you approve the quote, we lock in a start date that works for your schedule. We arrive on time, prepared with everything needed to get the job done right, and protect your home before we begin.

03

Expert On-Site Work

With 30+ years of hands-on plastering and five generations of craftsmanship behind us, our team carries out the work with skill and pride. We keep the workspace clean and keep you in the loop throughout.

04

Final Walkthrough & Completion

When the work is done we walk through every detail with you to make sure you are completely satisfied. We clean up thoroughly before we leave. Your home is left better than we found it.

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What We Get Called For

The Crown Molding Repairs We Are Asked For Most

Almost every call is one of six things. Some are a short length to put back, some are a whole run that has moved, and some are a profile that is still there but buried.

Broken and Missing Lengths Re-Run

Where a length of molding has been knocked out, soaked through or simply lost, we run the missing section back in place off a profile cut to the molding you still have.

  • Damaged length cut back to sound work
  • Missing section run in place
  • Joints closed into the old run

Profile Matched to the Existing Run

A repair only disappears if the section matches. We take the shape off a surviving length, cut a profile to it, and run the new work to that instead of the nearest stock molding.

  • Profile taken from your own molding
  • Projection and depth carried through
  • No stock trim stood in for plaster

Detail Lost Under Decades of Paint

Coat after coat of paint fills the arris and the undercut until a sharp molding reads soft and flat. We open the profile back up by hand so the shadow lines return along the run.

  • Clogged members opened back up
  • Undercuts and quirks recovered
  • Worked back without breaking the run

Corners, Mitres and Returns

A corner is where a poor repair shows first. Internal and external mitres and returns are formed by hand so every member carries round the angle and lands level on both walls.

  • Internal and external mitres formed by hand
  • Returns closed off cleanly
  • Members lined up on both walls

Molding Cracked by Movement Above

A crack that keeps coming back through the same length of cornice is usually movement rather than bad plaster. We deal with what is moving first, then cut out and re-run the damage.

  • Cause looked at before the repair
  • Loose and hollow lengths taken off
  • Re-run rather than filled over

Matching a Molding Into a New Opening

When a wall comes out or a room is opened up, the molding has to carry on into the new space. We run it to the same profile and tie it into the old lengths at both ends.

  • New runs matched to the original
  • Continued across an opened up wall
  • Tied in at both ends
The Finish We Work To

Cornice With Its Line Back

Decades of paint round off a cornice until the profile disappears. Cutting back and re-running the length is what returns the shadow line.

Run cornice, corbels and enriched plaster moldings in a stairwell
A run cornice with corbels. The crisp arris is the thing paint build-up destroys first.
Why Most Repairs Show

A Bad Molding Repair Is Obvious From Across the Room

Nobody stands with their nose against a cornice. They walk into the room, glance up, and something reads wrong before they can say what it is. That is because a molding is read as a single continuous line long before it is read as detail, and the eye picks up a break in that line at the far end of a room without any effort at all.

Two things cause it. The first is the profile. Every member in the section, the fillet, the cove, the bead, has to carry straight through the repair at the same projection and the same depth. If the patch sits a little proud, or the cove is a shade shallower, the light catches it differently and you get a bright band or a dark one exactly where the new work starts. The second is the run. A cornice follows a line, and that line has to stay level and parallel with the ceiling and with itself. A repair set even slightly off will drift away from the old length over a few feet, and the gap that opens up is the thing people actually notice.

This is why we take the profile off the molding you already have rather than reaching for the closest thing off a shelf, and why the new work is run in place against a rule rather than stuck up in sections and filled. Get those two right and the repair stops being a feature of the room.

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Where We Work

Crown Molding Repair Across the Greater Pittsburgh Area

We take molding repairs across Pittsburgh and the surrounding communities, in city homes and out through the North Hills, the South Hills and the eastern suburbs.

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Rooted in Pittsburgh

Why So Much Pittsburgh Molding Needs Repairing

The moldings in the city's older homes were run in lime plaster as part of the original build. They are tough, but they have had a long time to take knocks, hold water and be painted over.

5th
Generation Family Business
30+
Years of Hands-On Plastering
100s
Historic Homes Restored
100%
Pittsburgh-Based & Proud

The Damage Is Usually Local

A cornice rarely fails along its whole length. It is a few feet under an old roof leak, a corner clipped during a renovation, or one wall where a bathroom sat above. Most of the run is still sound, which is why cutting back to good work and re-running the damage beats replacing the lot.

No Two Profiles Are Alike

Pittsburgh's Victorians, Craftsman homes and Tudor revivals were finished by different hands in different decades, and the molding sections vary house to house and even room to room. Nothing off a shelf lines up with them, so the profile has to come off your own run.

Plaster, Not Foam or Resin Trim

A substitute molding is quicker to fix and it looks it, because the arris is softer and the undercut is shallower. Set next to an original plaster run it reads as a different object. Plaster takes a crisp edge and holds a real shadow, which is what makes the repair blend.

Straight Answers

Pittsburgh Plaster Questions

How do I know if my walls are plaster or drywall?
Press a thumbtack into an out of the way spot. Drywall takes it easily, plaster is hard and will resist or stop it. Knocking helps too, since plaster sounds solid and dense while drywall sounds hollow between the studs. In a house built before the late 1940s, plaster over wood lath is the likely answer.
Why do the cracks keep coming back after they are filled?
Filler treats the surface, not the reason the wall moved. Cracks usually come back because the plaster has come loose from the lath behind it, or because the house is still settling and shifting with the seasons. The fix is to secure the plaster back to the lath first and deal with the movement, then rebuild the surface. Skip that step and you are refilling the same line next year.
Can plaster be repaired, or does it have to be replaced with drywall?
In most cases it can be repaired. Plaster that is sound and simply cracked or loose in places can be reattached and patched in, and the wall keeps the hardness and the depth that made it worth having. Ripping it out for drywall is a bigger, dustier job than most people expect. We will tell you straight when a wall is too far gone to save.
Do you work in older city homes with original lath?
Yes. That is the bulk of what we do. This is a fifth generation family business with more than 30 years of hands-on plastering behind it, serving Pittsburgh since 1997, and wood lath, three coat plaster and old ceilings are ordinary to us. Estimates are free, so if you want a number, send a photo of the area along with the address and we will come back to you within 2 to 3 business days.
How do you match the texture on an old wall?
By reading the existing surface first and then working the new material to suit it, since a smooth wall, a sand float and a hand troweled finish all need a different approach. Feathering the patch out past the repair is what keeps the join from showing under a raking light. The standard we work to is the one Mike's father set: quality, long lasting work.
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Ready to Get Started?

Put the Molding Back Right

Send a photo of the damaged length, the corner or the section that is missing and we will tell you what it takes to put right. Free estimates, no pressure, no surprises.

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5th generation family business · Pittsburgh, PA · Free estimates