Repair plaster in Hired Girls' room and Back Parlor in Lincoln Home (HS-01)

A mix of original and newer plaster has failed in two locations in the Lincoln Home (HS-01) and needs to be replaced in-kind. On the second floor Hired Girls' room, a blocked downspout on the NE corner of the house appears to have backed water into the structural elements and damaged the plaster in this area. The downspout has been repaired to prevent future blockage, but the damage is now visible inside. The painted top and skim coats have cracked and curled, and a small section has popped off the wall completely in the NE corner of the room just inside from the downspout. The room was painted in 2021 and cracks in the plaster were skim-coated at that time. The plaster around the cracks and hole sounds loose when tapped. The walls on both sides of the corner will be checked, the layers removed where necessary and replaced with fresh plaster coats as needed by a professional plasterer. In the Back Parlor, plaster under the easternmost window was damaged during a strong storm that occurred when the window had been removed for repairs. The area is approximately 4' square. The extent of the damage is not completely known due to being under wallpaper. The 2008-installed wallpaper will be removed in the area to determine the extent, the destroyed plaster removed where necessary and replaced with fresh plaster coats as needed by a professional plasterer.

The plasterer will determine when the plaster is completely dry, which will allow park maintenance staff to repaint the wall in the Hired Girls' room, and install new wallpaper left over from the 2008 installation. All artifacts will be removed from the area by the site curatorial staff.

Contact Information

Susan Haake, 217-391-3246