This Snyder home suffered multiple water leaks caused by ice dams during the winter of 2025-2026. Following remediation, five large openings were cut into the original plaster walls and ceilings throughout the home. The new homeowner wanted to preserve the home’s original plaster rather than replace it with drywall, making this a unique multi-room plaster restoration project.
After all the repairs were done, we had to wait 10 days for the plaster to dry, and the pH level in the plaster to change so we can prime and paint.
Homeowners Insurance has become a problem, and it shouldn’t be.
The insurance company for this particular project was outrageous in their expectations. They expected us to repair all this damage for $350 – no joke! After 2 site visits, and fighting with them for over 6 weeks (9+ hours of unpaid administrative work), we were able to secure enough funding to repair the damage properly, and then prime our patches and paint the affected areas on the first floor (living room, bathroom). We couldnt get them to pay to paint the affected areas upstairs. They initially only wanted to paint just the patches!
I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain to an insurance company why you cant paint just a quarter of a ceiling, or part of a wall. I don’t know, I feel like that level of incompetence is borderline…
After 16 years in business, we have never had these kinds of problems with insurance companies, so far in 2026, every thing is a fight. Meanwhile people can’t get the coverage they paid for. At the rate its going, attorneys will be advertising on TV- “Did you suffer a loss at your home? Get the coverage you paid for, call us today 1-800…. “. Its very frustrating. Meanwhile they’re excluding everything and increasing our rates 50% YOY… /rant
Anyways, onto the fun stuff. I thought about creating a Part II like I normally would for two part projects like this, but given how many areas that were affected, its just easier to show the finished pictures here.
Pick a Room
Master Bedroom
The master bedroom, pictured below, suffered water damage above the window, as well as on the back side of the dormer. Since we are repairing the water damage, we went ahead and are repairing the ugly ceiling crack too.
Upon digging into the crack, we discovered evidence of a previous repair attempt. Rather than chipping it out, or at least scoring the crack, they applied drywall compound directly over it, then put the mesh tape into the wet mud, and finished it.
How do you expect a repair to hold if the crack itself, goes un-addressed?
The second picture is a close up of the first picture.
All we did in the last photo, was pull the mesh tape off. When mesh tape comes off this clean and easy, it was installed incorrectly.
Below is our method for repairing a plaster crack. Using a sharp hatchet, we remove material down into the plaster basecoat, exposing solid material and creating a stronger foundation for the repair. This allows the new plaster to properly key into the existing plaster rather than simply sitting on the surface.
Our goal is not just to remove loose material. We intentionally open the crack so reinforcement can be incorporated into the repair. This creates a much stronger repair than simply applying tape and joint compound over the crack.
Plaster Ceiling Crack Repair
The 3 photos below illustrate this. The last photo being how we left the room at the end of the first day.
After chiseling out the crack, and doing some other prep on the water damage on the right side of the dormer, we applied our bonding agent. All of this will be repaired using a lime based plaster finish, the same type of plaster these homes in Snyder are finished with.
The next set of images is of the water damage to the right side of the dormer. Water damaged plaster is unpredictable, some times large areas of finish coat plaster will peel off like this, as well as in the guest room below. We will fix it all.
Water Damage Plaster Repair
Priming our Patches:
Due to being a bright sunny day, trying to get this with out the shadow proved more difficult than I anticipated.
Guest Room
Both guest bedrooms, suffered the same fate as the rest of the house. We replaced the missing insulation, prior to closing up the holes in the ceilings. The last photo is plaster basecoat. Next step is to apply the finish coat. Notice how we prepare plaster cracks to be repaired?
Patched
Priming our patchwork:
Green Room
Another room, another hole in a plaster ceiling. The lines in the plaster basecoat is to give the finish plaster a stronger mechanical bond with the basecoat.
Priming:
Living Room Ceiling
This is a good example of how insurance estimates often are incapable of properly addressing water damaged plaster in 2026. The insurance company was pretty adamant that the “only” damage to this ceiling, was the square hole. The rest of that came off with a putty knife. We take pride in the work we do, and will not paint over wall or ceiling damage.
Trying to explain this type of damage to an insurance company adjuster, often proves to be quite difficult. Plaster is not drywall, I dont care what Xactimate says!
The new plaster is shiny because its polished using special finishing trowels. Its rock-hard in this photo. As it dries, it’ll turn white, and often a water stain will appear around the patch, that is normal.
Priming and Painting:
And to make sure it looks good with the light on…These shadows drove Ms. Stacy crazy lol.
Bathroom
Priming and Painting:
Overall a nice project. The new homeowner installed heating wires on the roof and in the gutters to hopefully prevent this from happening again.
Conclusion
If this project is any indication as to where we as homeowners are headed when we experience damage to our homes, its not pretty. I shouldn’t have to write dozens of emails, explaining in detail, the steps involved with repairing plaster and the chemistry make up of the materials we are working with. I feel that level of explanation is insane. And yet every insurance related job we have dealt with in 2026, has required hours and hours of back and forth with adjusters -unpaid mind you.
Getting this work approved by the insurance company, was so bad, that I at one point advised the homeowner to contact an attorney to sue their insurance. A homeowner should not have to sue their insurance company to get the coverage they paid for. Luckily the insurer saw the light and everyone avoided years of expensive litigation.
But this level of friction created by insurers, is only creating more expensive repairs, and forcing companies like ours, to question whether we want to continue taking on insurance-related-work. Have a look around the Archives, our documentation is among the best in the industry and we are hitting wall after wall of gross incompetence. /rant
