Table of Contents
Introduction: The New Orleans Building Arts Project
Builder's Voices
Brick Masonry
Carpentry
Ironworking and Blacksmithing
Tile Masonry and Painting
Plastering
Shoring, Plant & Maintenance Engineering
Wood Crafting
How the Seventh Ward Was Built
Labor Day
Tile Masonry and Painting
On Tile Masonry and Painting:
In my case, there is somewhat of a mixture between old and new methods. As far as plaster work is involved, if you are a plasterer you would use mostly old methods, I would assume. But in my case, what I usually do as far as for bad plaster—and I'm not talking about plaster that is falling down; I'm talking about sound plaster that has some defects in it, a lot of cracks but it's basically structurally sound enough to paint over-what I usually do is apply a canvas liner, which is an old method of restoring walls and making a fresh surface for paint.
--Joseph Rein, Painter
I now use something completely different, a more modern thing which is a fiberglass fabric. Woven fiberglass fabric is basically like a spun fiberglass fabric, and you apply it with a special paint primer and you apply the primer and stick the fabric on when it's wet, and then roll some more primer on top of it so it's embedded in paint. I've been using that for about three years as an alternative to the old-style canvas. . . . It does get around. It's advisable to wear some sort of a mask and to also powder up so you don't get little fiberglass shards embedded in your skin, just like working with fiberglass installation. It's kind of a mess, but I kind of like it better than hanging the canvas because I feel more secure about it. I feel like it might last longer. Not that canvas doesn't last; it's that in New Orleans a lot of houses have moisture problems and sometimes the moisture is great enough that it causes the canvas to lose adhesion. Now, that's not every house, but it happens a lot.
--Joseph Rein, Painter
The number one [problem] is mildew. New Orleans has an extremely damp climate....Back in the days when you used to be able to have lead and mercury compounds in the paint, mildew wasn't as much of a problem as it is now.
--Joe Pieri, Tile Mason
My first fifteen or twenty years was strictly tile and marble floors. Then I wanted to get into stone, like counter tops and different things. . . . I was always partial to natural stone. Since I was young even. We did our own cutting. We did our own cutting and shaping, and custom cutting and custom shaping. The tile part of it, the stone comes pre-cut. Mainly when we do cuts, it's specialized cuts like vanity tops, counter tops, or whatever the needs may be.
--Joe Pieri, Tile Mason
[Today] for the most part they have cement backer board. It's cement with vinyl on both sides. It takes the place of the mortar. It works pretty good. It lasts, because when we did it with the plaster, it didn't really have to be that strong. It was strong but it doesn't have to be that strong. Right now, when you go into an old house, the hardest thing to tear out is the tile walls where they were mounted the old way. The sheet rock with water doesn't last, but the DuRock [USG brand product typically used as backerboard for ceramic tile installations] is more water resistant and, being cement-ish material, the water doesn't hurt it as much. They have waterproofing adhesive now that we can use. The DuRock is going to help the market. What it does, it's going to speed up the timing that goes into doing a job, so we could do it a little bit cheaper and faster and get the price down and the production going.
--Joe Pieri, Tile Mason
