Do I have to move all the furniture out of the room before plaster repair?
Usually not all of it. A single crack or patch needs about six feet of clear floor at the wall and a path to the door, and the big pieces get pushed to the middle and covered. A sagging ceiling, a section replacement, or a full room skim is different, and those rooms are easier empty. Every house is different, so ask when you book and get the answer in writing.
Do I have to move all the furniture out of the room before plaster repair?
For most wall repairs, no. The crew needs to reach the damaged plaster, set up a drop cloth under it, and get a ladder or a plaster hawk in front of it without climbing over an end table. Six feet of clear floor along that wall covers it. Anything hanging on that wall comes down, and anything fragile within reach of a ladder leg leaves the room. A sofa, a dresser or a dining table can stay in the room if it moves to the far side and gets covered.
Ceilings change the answer. When a lath-and-plaster ceiling is sagging and the fix is washers and adhesive, the crew works overhead across most of the ceiling, and whatever is under it will catch dust from the drilling and the odd chip of old plaster. When a section of ceiling is coming down and being rebuilt, the room should be empty or near it. The same goes for a room skim, where every wall gets worked from baseboard to ceiling and furniture against any wall is in the way.
Who does the moving is a question for the crew you hire, not a rule of the trade. Some crews move everything themselves and build it into the price. Some ask the homeowner to clear the room and will shift the last heavy piece on arrival. Some will not touch a piano, an aquarium or a glass cabinet for liability reasons. Ask three things before the date is set: what needs to be out, who moves what stays, and who covers it. If the answer is not in the written quote, get it added.
Why does the plasterer ask how tall the ceiling is?
Because ceiling height decides the equipment, the time and the price band. A nine foot ceiling, which is what most 1900 to 1930 Canton houses have, gets worked off a stepladder or a low rolling platform, and one person can stabilize a sagging field in a day. The ten to twelve foot ceilings in the older Victorian and foursquare houses around Ridgewood and the west side need a scaffold or a tall baker, two people to move it, and more time setting up than the repair itself. That is why ceiling repairpricing lists access height as one of the things that moves the number. It also decides how much of the room has to clear, since a scaffold footprint is bigger than a ladder’s.
Measure it once with a tape from the floor to the ceiling and write it on the photo you send. Stairwells and two story foyers count double: a crack over a staircase can turn a simple patch into a job that needs staging over the stairs.
What photos and dimensions should I send for a plaster repair quote?
Four photos and three numbers get most Canton plaster jobs priced off the published table without a visit. Contractors ask for pictures, an address and dimensions because those three things tell them whether the job is a crack, a loose field or a tear out, how far they are driving, and how much material and staging to bring.
- A wide shot of the whole wall or ceiling. Stand in the doorway. This shows how far the damage runs and what else is on that surface.
- A close shot with something for scale. A tape measure or a coin next to the crack or hole. A hairline and a quarter inch gap are different repairs.
- A raking light shot. Turn off the room lights and shine a flashlight along the wall from the side. Bellies, loose keys and old patches show up that a flat photo hides.
- Any stain, rust streak or soft spot. Brown rings and blistered paint point to water, which changes the order of work and sends the job to the water damage plaster repair process.
- Ceiling height, the size of the damaged area, and the room size. Floor to ceiling in feet, the patch in rough inches, and the room in feet if a skim is on the table.
- The year the house was built. Pre-1978 means lead paint rules apply to any sanding. Pre-1900 usually means lime plaster, which is priced and repaired differently.
With that in hand, a crew that publishes its prices can read you a range from the plaster repair cost table the same day. A crew that cannot quote from photos is not wrong to want a walk-through, but it should tell you what the walk costs and whether it credits against the work.
What has to clear the room, job by job
The table is the common practice around here. Your crew’s written quote is the version that applies to your house.
| Job | Usually leaves the room | Can stay, covered | Dust |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crack repair on one wall | Small pieces and wall hangings within six feet of the crack | Sofas and cabinets pushed off the wall and covered | Low; wet work, light sanding |
| Sagging ceiling stabilization | Everything under the sag plus a path to it | Large pieces moved to the far side and draped | Moderate; drilling through plaster into lath |
| Ceiling section replacement | The whole room, or everything to the center | Only what cannot leave, under plastic and drop cloth | High; old plaster comes down in pieces |
| Room skim coat | Everything off every wall, about three feet clear | Center island of furniture, wrapped | Moderate; wet coats, a final light sand |
| Water damage repair | Everything under and beside the stain | Pieces that got wet go out to dry, not under a sheet | Varies; demo of soft plaster is dusty |
Two patterns in that table. The farther the work is from the floor, the more of the room clears, because dust falls from everywhere above it. And wet furniture never stays under a drop cloth. A rug or an upholstered chair that took water from the same leak that ruined the ceiling goes outside or to another room to dry, or it comes back as a mildew problem the plaster repair gets blamed for.
Dust, lead paint and what the crew should bring
Covering furniture is the homeowner’s half of the job. Containment is the crew’s. On any Canton house built before 1978, which is most of the plaster housing stock, the painted surface over the plaster almost certainly carries lead, and federal rules under the EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting program require a certified firm to seal the work area with plastic, keep dust from leaving it, and clean up with HEPA vacuuming and wet wiping rather than a shop broom. The EPA’s Renovate Right pamphlet is the one the firm is supposed to hand you before work starts. A crew that shows up with plastic, tape, a zipper door and a HEPA vacuum is doing the furniture a bigger favor than any sheet you throw over it. A crew that dry sands an old ceiling with the hall door open is the reason the question about furniture exists.
Three things to ask before the date is set
- What do you need out of the room, and who moves the rest? Get the answer on the quote, including the heavy pieces.
- How will you contain the dust? Plastic and a zipper door for ceilings and skims, drop cloths and a closed door at minimum for a wall crack.
- How long is the room out of use? Setting plaster cures in hours; a skim needs a day or two between coats; paint waits for the plaster to dry fully. The answer tells you where the furniture is sleeping.
How our own crew handles your room depends on the room, so that part is a phone call. Text the photos from the list above to (330) 919-7626 and you get the read, the price from the published table, and the prep list for your job the same day.
Send the photos, get the prep list
Text the wide shot, the close shot and the ceiling height to (330) 919-7626 or use the form. You hear what the repair is, what it costs, and what needs to move.
Every price mentioned here is on the plaster repair cost guide. Sagging and cracked ceilings have their own page at ceiling repair, and the rest of our notes live on the articles page.