Important: Safety Warning
This page describes trade processes that use dangerously toxic materials such as cyanide solutions, mercury amalgams, or strong acids. These processes require training, equipment, and precautions far beyond what the text describes.
This page directs the use of hazardous substances — such as benzine, gasoline, lye, or strong acids — for household tasks. These materials are highly flammable, corrosive, or poisonous, and the practices described have caused fires, burns, and poisonings.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
Home › House Cleaning › House Cleaning: Frescoes
House Cleaning: Frescoes
Blue Wash for Walls and Ceilings. Dissolve 1 pound of blue vitriol and 8 ounces of whiting in 3 quarts of water. Boil with gentle heat 2 or 3 hours, stirring frequently. Remove from the fire, stir, and allow to cool. Pour the liquor from the sediment, mix the latter with 1 ounce of common glue dissolved in 1 gallon of water, and apply with a brush. To Paint Frescoes. - To paint in fresco consists in applying colors not injured by lime to the fresh mortar, stucco, or plaster while still damp. The advantage of this sort of painting is that it incorporates with the mortar, dries with it, and is very durable. Frescoes may be applied in any design, free hand or by means of stencil. Or the walls may be painted in fresco with tints or solid colors.
Glazing for Frescoes. - To protect frescoes, dilute paraffin with benzol, and apply a thin coating with a brush.
PAPER HANGING To Remove Wall Paper.-To prepare a wall for fresh treatment, whether by painting, calcimining, or hanging fresh paper, first remove any paper that may be on the walls.
Never lay one paper over another.
The germ of disease, eggs of vermin, and other obnoxious matter are not to be gotten rid of by this process. Wet the walls with boiling water applied with a whitewash brush, and remove the paper with a hand scraper or a large case knife or wide-bladed putty knife. Do not allow the scrapings to harden on the floor, as when dry they are very difficult to remove. After the paper is off, wash down the walls with pure water or strong soda water or vinegar and water applied with a large sponge or brush. Let them dry thoroughly before treating. To Repair Plaster. - To repair cracks formed in plaster by the settling of new houses, the sagging of old houses, the decay of ceilings and floor timbers, and accidental breaks in the plaster, first cut away the edges of the cracks or breaks with a sharp knife. Make the edge straight or slightly slanting in. Then fill with plaster of Paris mixed with water, to which may be added vinegar, flour paste, or sand. Or fill with paper pulp moistened with glue.