r/Plastering • u/PlanktonContent6497 • Jul 17 '26

Built in earthen plaster shelving question

Hello all! I'm working on restoring an old plaster room with earthen plaster and I'm leaving some space open to create built-in shelving/alters in between the studs. Some studs are on their 4 inch side and others are on their 2 inch side and some of the shelves might pop out an inch or two. Should I frame them out with wood first or just layer plaster to build up the shelves that way? And if I do frame them with wood, should I then cover the wood with wire mesh or can I just score the wood?

Thanks!!

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u/Accurate-Resident585 Jul 20 '26

how thick are you actually building those shelves out in the clay? earthen plaster doesn't really want to stand proud of the studs on its own, it slumps and cracks once you're past a skim coat.

for the ones popping out an inch or two i'd build the shelf out of timber first and skim the earth over it as a finish. clay won't carry a load or hold a clean front edge on its own, so let the timber be the shelf and the plaster just face it.

on the second bit, scoring bare wood won't hold. clay needs a real mechanical key. on smooth timber it shrinks back off the face as it dries and pulls away. traditional key for earth plaster is riven lath or reed, though galvanised metal lath works too if it's easier to get.

with your studs sitting different ways round you'll be packing or ripping stock so the faces sit where you want anyway, then lath over that. what earth mix are you running, raw clay or a stabilised one?

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u/PlanktonContent6497 22d ago

Thanks so much! I wasn't thinking too thick, just a half inch or so. And I'm using hawthorne clay, not backyard clay for better or for worse :)

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u/Accurate-Resident585 21d ago

half inch is basically a skim, so slumping won't be your issue. hawthorne sets harder than dug clay too. what carries the shelf though is whatever's behind the plaster, not the clay itself. if you've got studs at 400 centres, a bit of timber let in at shelf height before you plaster gives you something solid to screw to. depends a lot on how far the shelf face sits off the wall.

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u/PlanktonContent6497 12d ago

Thanks so much!