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Decorating Defects - their cause and cure

Hair cracks on Chimney-breasts

When paint, distemper, or wallpaper is stripped from a room it will often be found that the plaster on and around the chimney-breast is covered with fine hair cracks, caused by excessive shrinkage of the plaster owing to the heat.
As these may,affect the appearance of the new decoration they should be filled. The best material for the purpose is a mixture of paste white lead and gold size mixed to a stout consistency in which it can just be applied by brush. When it has been put on, press it wen into the wall with a broad­bladed stripping knife, until all the cracks are filled. Finally, remove the surplus paste.
In bad cases, a lining paper may advantageously be applied before repapering or repainting.
The existence of these cracks can often be detected, if the room is papered, by the presence of fine, dark web-like markings on the surface of the wall­paper, due to dust or dirt deposition.
The formation of the cracks allows air to be drawn into the voids thus formed, and the paper acts as a kind of filter, allowing the air to pass through it but retaining impurities with which the atmosphere inside a room is always charged.