Wattle and dorb plaster
An overview of how walls used to be plastered.
Copyright (c) 2008 Able Skills
Many people are unaware that hair has been used in plaster for hundreds of years to help with the binding process.
Why Hair?
Hair - particularly horse’s hair - has long been used in plastering for two main reasons: it’s easy to find and it works in much the same was as the strands you find in fibreglass resin. Remember, plaster has been around for quite some time now, so our ancestors needed to use whatever they could get their hands on in order to do the job right. Long ago, before everyone owned a car, everyone had a horse. Therefore, horse hair was readily available.