Pittsburgh's Historic Plaster Restorers

Plaster Restorationin Pittsburgh, PA

Your walls are older than the drywall era and worth keeping. Mike Merola & Sons restores original plaster in Pittsburgh homes, working with the material the house was actually built from.

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

Behind the Surface

Lath and Plaster Repair in Pittsburgh, PA

Original plaster sits on wood lath, and it lets go from behind long before the painted face shows anything. That is why so much restoration work starts with a hand on the wall rather than a scraper. We find what is still keyed, secure what has started to move, and rebuild only the sections that have genuinely failed. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Restore

The Restoration Work Pittsburgh Homes Call For

Original plaster fails in a handful of recognizable ways. Here is the work we are called out for most in older homes across the city.

Original Lath and Key Failure

When the keys behind wood lath snap, the plaster pulls away from the wall while the painted face still looks sound. We re-secure what holds and rebuild only what has let go.

Wood lath refastening
Detached sections re-keyed
Original plaster kept where it can be

Ornamental and Cornice Restoration

Cornices, ceiling medallions and relief work lose their crispness under decades of paint and earlier patching. We clean the detail back, run or cast the missing lengths and set them in.

Run cornice and molding repair
Ceiling medallions and corbels
Cast from the surviving detail

Historic Texture and Profile Matching

An old wall carries a trowel pattern, a sand grade and a sheen that a modern skim coat will not reproduce. We work the finish by hand until the restored area disappears into the wall.

Lime and gypsum finishes
Sand grade and trowel pattern matched
Period-appropriate technique

Ceiling Re-Keying

Ceilings fail first because gravity pulls on every key. Where the coat is still sound but hanging loose, it can often be anchored back to the lath instead of being taken down.

Sagging and bellied ceilings
Re-anchored back to sound lath
Checked in raking light

Whole-Room Replastering Over Original Substrate

Some rooms are past patching. We replaster over the original lath rather than stripping back to studs, so the room keeps its depth, its reveals and its original wall line.

Walls and ceilings in one pass
Original reveals and wall line kept
Existing trim and detail protected

Earlier Repairs That Damaged the Original

Filler over a moving crack, mesh tape laid across original plaster, a hard edge feathered far too tight. We take the earlier repair back out and rebuild it in the material the wall is made of.

Filler and tape over old plaster
Board patches set at the wrong depth
Rebuilt in matching material

Our Own Work

A Ceiling Brought Back

Photographed on one of our own jobs, after the surface was rebuilt and worked to match the texture that was already there.

Restored ceiling skimmed and textured to match the original surface — The finished surface, textured to sit with the original rather than stand out from it.

Old House Decisions

Restoring Original Plaster vs Tearing It Out for Drywall

Every owner of an older Pittsburgh home reaches this fork eventually. Keep the plaster that has been there for decades, or strip it back to the studs and board it out.

Restore the Plaster

Keep the original material and bring it back.

Keeps the depth, the thickness, and the sound deadening the house was built with.
Original moldings, arches, and curved details stay intact rather than being lost.
Loose plaster can often be re-anchored to the lath instead of removed.
Skilled hand work, so it costs more per square foot than hanging board.

Tear Out for Drywall

Strip to the studs and hang new board.

Cheaper and quicker when the plaster has failed across most of the room.
Open studs make rewiring, insulating, and plumbing far easier to run.
Gives a modern flat surface that any painter or contractor can work with.
The original detail, thickness, and sound performance do not come back.

How to tell which one you have

Walk the room and press the wall every few feet with a flat hand. Plaster that stays put against the lath is still keyed and worth restoring, even with visible cracks, since cracking is not the same as failure. Plaster that moves, bulges, or sounds like it has come away from the lath over most of the room has lost its key, and at that point drywall is often the honest and cheaper answer. If you are already opening the walls for wiring or insulation anyway, the tear out decision has largely been made for you.

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Local Service Area

Plaster Restoration Across the Greater Pittsburgh Area

Every area we cover has its own page, because the housing stock is not the same from one to the next. Find yours below.

Shadyside

Pre-war brick homes and apartment buildings here hold plaster worth saving, from failed keys to ornamental cornice runs.

Squirrel Hill

Substantial older homes here often keep their original plaster ceilings, which we re-key and refinish rather than tear out.

Sewickley

Century-old walls along the river hide loose keys behind surfaces that still look sound, which is exactly our work.

Fox Chapel

Estate-scale rooms call for decorative plaster done properly, including cornices, medallions, and moldings matched to the profile already there.

Edgeworth

Heritage architecture along the Ohio River means genuine lath and plaster, and preserving it beats replacing it every time.

Franklin Park

Among newer construction sit older houses and original farmhouses whose real plaster walls deserve restoration, not a drywall shortcut.

Bell Acres

Period properties scattered between custom builds still carry original plaster, and we match the existing texture so repairs disappear.

Bradford Woods

Most of this borough is newer, but the older homes that predate it hold plaster worth restoring carefully.

Gibsonia

Character homes that predate the suburban growth often need failed keys secured again before any finish coat goes on.

Upper St. Clair

Ornamental plaster, ceiling medallions, and cornice work suit these well-kept South Hills homes whether the house is old or new.

Allison Park

Mid-century and earlier properties mixed among modern builds are where genuine plaster restoration applies, and we treat them accordingly.

Wexford

Fast growth brought drywall, yet the farmhouses and older homes here predate it and still hold restorable plaster.

Mt. Lebanon

Tudor and Colonial houses are plaster-heavy throughout, so matching an original texture and profile decides whether a repair stays invisible.

Peters Township

Newer development dominates, so restoration here usually means an older property, or decorative plaster chosen for a high-end build.

Canonsburg

Older borough houses hold true lath and plaster, and whole rooms can be replastered over the original substrate.

Mars

Beyond the recent building, the town's earlier homes still have plaster ceilings and walls that can be brought back.

Seven Fields

Planned communities are modern, so our restoration work here is ornamental: medallions, cornices, and decorative detail in newer homes.

Pine Township

Large-lot construction is mostly recent, though the farmhouses that came first carry original plaster we can properly restore.

Richland Township

Butler County's older farmhouses sit among newer subdivisions, and those earlier houses are the ones with plaster to save.

Murrysville

Westmoreland County keeps plenty of pre-war housing, where a full room can be replastered without losing the original wall.

View All Service Areas

Rooted in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Was Built in Plaster, and It Is Still Up There

The city's older housing stock predates drywall entirely. Behind the paint is three-coat plaster on wood lath, put up by hand, and it can usually be brought back by hand as well. The Merola family has been working on those walls here since 1997.

5th

Generation Family Business

30+

Years of Hands-On Plastering

100s

Historic Homes Restored

100%

Pittsburgh-Based & Proud

Three Coats, Not One Surface

Original plaster is a scratch coat pushed through the lath, a brown coat that builds the thickness, and a thin finish coat on top. Each one behaves differently when it fails, so knowing which layer has gone is what decides whether a wall gets anchored, patched or rebuilt.

Every Era Left a Different Finish

The brick rowhouses, Craftsman bungalows and Tudor revivals across Pittsburgh were finished by different hands in different decades. Sand float, skip trowel, a fine polished lime. Reading that finish and reproducing it is most of what makes restored work look original.

Plaster Straight Onto Masonry

Plenty of Pittsburgh walls, including the Strip District and South Side conversions, carry plaster applied directly to brick or block with no lath behind it at all. There is nothing to key into there, so those walls are prepared and built back a different way.

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?

Find Out What Can Be Saved

Call us or send a few photos of the walls and ceilings you are worried about. We will tell you honestly what is still worth restoring and give you a free estimate. No pressure, no surprises.

(412) 583-7294 Request a Quote

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