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Mike Merola & Sons Plastering
Pittsburgh's Trusted Plasterers
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Pittsburgh's Venetian Plaster Specialists

Venetian Plasterin Pittsburgh, PA

A hand applied, hand polished lime finish with real depth in it. Mike Merola & Sons lays and burnishes Venetian plaster in Pittsburgh homes, on feature walls, in wet areas and across whole rooms.

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

Venetian Plaster Near You in Pittsburgh, PA

Venetian plaster is not a paint effect and it is not a texture rolled on out of a bucket. It is thin coats of lime and marble worked on with a steel trowel, then compressed and burnished until the surface takes on depth and a soft movement of light that no flat color can imitate. That is slow, physical work, and the result stands or falls on the hand holding the trowel. The Merola family has been finishing Pittsburgh interiors 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 Apply

The Venetian Plaster Work We Get Called For

Some of it is a single wall meant to be the center of a room, some of it is a wet area, and some of it is putting existing Venetian work back the way it was. Here is what we are asked for most.

Polished Marmorino and Lime Finishes

Marmorino and burnished lime plaster build depth in thin coats, so the wall shifts as the light moves across it. Applied by hand and polished back with a steel trowel.

  • Lime and marble based systems
  • Laid in thin coats, not rolled
  • Burnished up by hand

Feature Walls and Focal Rooms

Most jobs are one wall rather than a whole house. A fireplace breast, a dining room, an entry, somewhere the finish is meant to be the thing you notice when you walk in.

  • Single feature walls
  • Entries, dining rooms and stairwells
  • Full rooms and ceilings

Bathrooms and Wet Areas

For bathrooms and wet areas we use lime and tadelakt style systems that are compressed and sealed, giving a seamless surface with no grout lines to keep clean.

  • Compressed and sealed surfaces
  • Seamless, no grout lines
  • Shower walls and vanity runs

Matt and Burnished Sheen Levels

Sheen changes the whole character of the finish. We can leave it soft and matt or burnish it up to a marble like polish, and we set that level with you before we start.

  • Matt through to high polish
  • Sheen agreed before we start
  • Kept even across the whole wall

Color Development and Sample Panels

Color in Venetian plaster comes from tinted material, not paint over the top. We develop the tint and put up sample panels in your own light so you approve the real thing.

  • Tint carried in the material
  • Sample panels in your own light
  • Matched to a designer's scheme

Repair and Refinishing of Existing Venetian Work

Existing Venetian plaster can be knocked, patched badly or gone flat. We cut in, rework the affected area and re-burnish so the repair reads as part of the original wall.

  • Knocks and patches made good
  • Color and sheen matched back in
  • Tired finishes re-burnished
Our Own Work

A Polished Venetian Wall

Photographed on one of our own jobs. The sheen and the depth are in the plaster itself, not in a paint effect over the top.

Polished Venetian plaster wall in a warm terracotta tone, catching the light from ceiling downlights
Burnished Venetian plaster. The highlights are the downlights reflecting off the polished surface.
For the Trade

Working With Designers, Architects and Builders

Most homeowners have never asked for Venetian plaster by name. Designers and architects have, and they are usually the ones who specify it, because they already know that a lime finish burnished in place holds light in a way a painted wall cannot, and that the difference between a good one and a poor one is entirely in the application.

If you are specifying this work, send us the scheme, a reference image, or a color you are building the room around. We will put up sample panels on the wall itself so the tint and the sheen are judged in the room's own light rather than off a card. If the substrate needs work before any Venetian goes on it, or if the sheen you want will show every flat in a wall that is not true, you will hear that before we start rather than after.

We are used to working alongside other trades on a live job, sequencing our coats so the finish goes on late and stays protected until the room is handed over. It is a family business, and the person who quotes the work is on site doing it.

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Where We Work

Venetian Plaster Across the Greater Pittsburgh Area

We take Venetian plaster work 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

Pittsburgh Rooms Are Built for a Finish Like This

Tall ceilings, deep window reveals and the low, changeable light of a Pittsburgh winter are exactly the conditions a polished lime finish was made for. It reads differently through the day in a way flat paint never does.

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

Light Is the Whole Point

A Venetian finish is judged by how it behaves as the light crosses it. In older Pittsburgh homes with tall windows and deep reveals, that movement is the reason to choose it, and it is also why a sample has to be seen on your wall rather than on a board in a showroom.

The Wall Under It Has to Be Right

A polished finish is thin and honest. Every hollow, every proud joint and every soft patch underneath will show once the sheen comes up. We treat the preparation as part of the job, because that is where a Venetian wall is actually won or lost.

Plaster, Not a Painted Imitation

There are paints and rolled-on products sold as a Venetian look. They sit on the surface as one flat layer, so the depth is printed rather than real. True Venetian plaster is lime and marble laid in coats and compressed, which is why it keeps working as the light changes.

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?

See It on Your Own Wall

Tell us the room, the color you have in mind and the sheen you are after, and we will tell you what it takes. Free estimates, no pressure, no surprises.

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