Handy Mac, aka Don MacAlister, is our expert on household DIY issues

Q:

I RECEIVED a call from a man asking me to recommend a chimney sweep as he had picked up in one of my columns that you should have your chimney swept once a year before use in winter. It was only when I started to give him the number that he realised I was in Cape Town and he was in Durban. It is great to know my column is being read far and wide. If anyone else from “The Kingdom” is reading this and knows about a chimney sweep, please pass the number to me. Q:

Watching a programme on channel 176, Guiding You Home, reminded me of something I noticed when visiting family in Gauteng ages ago regarding the difference in plaster finishes.

In Cape Town we are used to smooth plaster inside and out, yet often I noticed plaster in Gauteng had indentations, as though someone had removed stones from the finished product, leaving “holes”.

The modern houses viewed still used the same technique, some inside and outside. The programme triggered a question that has subconsciously lurked in my brain for 30 years. Do you have any idea how they achieve this?

A:

This was quite a hard one for me and I have spent a fair amount of time searching the internet to see what I could come up with. The best I can do is scraped plaster. This effect is a European style of plaster finish which is obtained by scraping the stucco finish coat with a steel tool (sometimes serrated) while the stucco is setting.

I have been trying to work out how a European style plaster would appear in Gauteng. Then it dawned on me that after the change of government in Angola in the 1970s, many of the Portuguese artisans based there left and came to South Africa. I was working in Sishen at the time and I remember them stopping off to look for work. We employed many of them to do the plastering on the new town and mine facilities we were building.

I enjoyed searching for this one because I came across all sorts of interesting ideas for finishing off plaster. Many are old and dated, but a bit of retro is good at times.

After the first wave of panic to stock up on bottled water, do we now start to restock? PICTURE: PIXABAY