Hi Everyone,

We are renovating a house that has horsehair plaster walls. As we are at the end of our renovations (and approaching the top range of budget) our contractor recommended that we keep the repairs to the dining room walls simple and re-plaster over the existing wall vs. new drywall as a cost-saving measure.

For the most part, it looks good. The plaster was done 3 days ago and is still drying. However, there is one corner of the room, where an exterior wall meets an interior wall, that now has a multitude of brown spots coming through. There are a few random spots like this on another interior wall (like one or two at a time, but nothing like this particular corner). The plaster is also the most damp in this corner compared to the rest of the room. I want to also note, on the original wall, there were no visible stains to the eye. The walls were painted baby blue and there was a slight stucco texture on the surface that they smoothed out with a new layer of plaster.

I have google image searched and found this could be perhaps nicotine stains coming through? Or could it be a damp or moisture issue?

I feel like the only way to know what is happening is to cut a section of the wall out and have a look underneath. i think it's worth doing but my husband thinks it's fine and just wants to put some Zissner Bullseye over it and call it a day. :)

Thank you!