Mike Merola & Sons Plastering logo Mike Merola & Sons Plastering
(412) 583-7294 Get Free Quote
Mike Merola & Sons Plastering
Pittsburgh's Trusted Plasterers
Services
All Services Plaster Repair Patching & Hole Repair Plaster Restoration Drywall Repair Ornamental Plastering Crown Molding Repair Stucco Repair Venetian Plaster Hard Coat Plaster Skim Coating Tadelakt & Microcement
Service Areas About Us FAQ Our Work Reviews Contact
(412) 583-7294 Get Free Quote
merolaplasteringpgh@gmail.com
Pittsburgh's Ornamental Plaster Specialists

Ornamental Plasteringin Pittsburgh, PA

Ceiling medallions, run cornice, corbels and decorative relief. Mike Merola & Sons repairs, matches and casts ornamental plaster in Pittsburgh homes, so the detail reads as original rather than replaced.

(412) 583-7294 Get Free Quote
✓ 30+ Years of Hands-On Plastering ✓ Fifth Generation Family Business ✓ Serving Pittsburgh Since 1997
Decorative Detail

Decorative Plaster in Pittsburgh, PA

Ornamental plaster work is a different trade to flat walls. The profile has to run true over its whole length, a cast piece has to sit in the same plane as the run beside it, and a repair has to pick up the same shadow line as the original. That is hand work with a rule, a profile and a mold, and it is what the Merola family has been doing in Pittsburgh homes since 1997. 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.

(412) 583-7294 Get a Free Quote
What We Make and Restore

The Ornamental Plaster Work We Get Called For

Some of it is repair, some of it is new work run in place, and some of it is casting a piece that has been missing for decades. Here is what we are asked for most.

Ceiling Medallions and Roses

Ceiling roses and medallions carry the eye upward in a formal room. We restore the original where it can be saved and cast a new one to match where it cannot.

  • Original medallions repaired in place
  • Replacements cast to match
  • Centered on the light fitting

Run Cornice and Crown Molding

Run cornice is formed in place with a profile and a running rule, not stuck up in lengths. That is how a molding turns a corner and meets the old work cleanly.

  • Profiles cut to your existing run
  • Mitres and returns formed by hand
  • New runs tied into old lengths

Corbels and Brackets

Corbels and brackets sit where a beam, shelf or arch meets the wall. We repair the ones you have and cast replacements so a matched pair reads as a pair.

  • Chipped and cracked corbels rebuilt
  • Pairs and sets matched
  • Set true to the wall line

Decorative Relief and Enrichment

Enrichment is the detail inside the run: beading, dentils, egg and dart, leaf work. We add it, repair it, and keep the spacing consistent along the whole length.

  • Beads, dentils and leaf work
  • Spacing set out before it is fixed
  • Panel and frieze relief

Matching and Casting Missing Sections

When a section of ornament is gone, we take a mold from a surviving run, cast the missing piece in plaster and set it in so the repair sits in the same plane.

  • Molds taken from your own detail
  • Cast in plaster, not resin trim
  • Joints closed and blended

Restoring Detail Lost Under Old Paint

Decades of paint fill a crisp profile until the detail goes soft. We open the ornament back up by hand and bring the original lines and shadow lines back.

  • Clogged profiles opened up
  • Undercuts and shadow lines recovered
  • Worked back without breaking the run
The Finish We Work To

Relief Work and Enrichment

Ornamental plaster is run and cast rather than bought off a shelf, which is why a missing section can be matched instead of replaced wholesale.

Ornamental plaster relief and scrollwork across a vaulted ceiling
Relief and scrollwork of the kind we repair and re-run. Missing detail gets cast from what survives.
For the Trade

Working With Designers, Architects and Builders

Most homeowners have never heard the phrase ornamental plaster work. Designers and architects have, and they are usually the ones who specify it, because they already know that a cornice run in place behaves differently to a length of trim and that a cast plaster medallion holds a shadow line a molded substitute does not.

If you are specifying this work, we can take it from a drawing, a photograph of a reference room, or a surviving section of the existing run. We will tell you plainly what can be restored, what has to be cast, and where a profile will need to be cut fresh because nothing on site matches it. If a detail on the drawing will not sit right against the existing plaster, you will hear that before it is run rather than after.

We are used to working alongside other trades on a live job, keeping our sequencing out of the way of the electrician, the painter and the carpenter, and leaving the ornament covered and protected until the room is finished. It is a family business, and the person who quotes the work is on site doing it.

(412) 583-7294 Get a Free Quote
Where We Work

Ornamental Plastering Across the Greater Pittsburgh Area

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

View All Service Areas
Rooted in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Homes Were Built With Ornament in Them

The city's older housing stock was finished at a time when a formal room was expected to have a cornice, a centerpiece and a molded frieze. A lot of that detail is still up there under the paint, and it can be brought back.

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

The Ornament Is Usually Still There

In homes built between 1880 and 1940 the cornice and the ceiling center were run and cast in lime plaster as part of the original build. Damage tends to be local rather than total, so the honest answer is often a repair to what survives rather than a full replacement.

Profiles Change Street by Street

The Victorians, Craftsman homes and Tudor revivals across Pittsburgh were finished by different hands in different decades, and no two cornice profiles are quite alike. That is why we cut a profile from your own run instead of reaching for a stock section.

Plaster, Not Foam or Resin Trim

Substitute moldings are quicker to fix and they look it, because the arris is softer and the undercut is shallower. Plaster takes a crisp edge and holds a real shadow, which is what makes restored ornament sit convincingly next to the original work.

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.
(412) 583-7294 Get a Free Quote
Ready to Get Started?

Bring the Detail Back

Send a photo of the cornice, the ceiling center or the missing section and we will tell you what it takes to put right. Free estimates, no pressure, no surprises.

(412) 583-7294 Request a Quote

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