Lath and Plaster Ceiling - what should I do?

JennyB

All the DIY I attempt turns out the same way - you set out to do one thing and then while doing that thing you find something else that needs doing that is far more difficult/expensive than the first thing and the whole lot just snowballs.

Ok. Old Victorian terrace. Decided to replace the partition wall between the back bedroom and the landing because it was made out of tongue and groove pine boards (matchboarding?) - not really to my taste. Had the day off work yesterday and took this down. While doing this, started to chip away at the textured artex ceiling that I was also planning to replace and found the plaster underneath to look fairly rough so decided to chip the whole lot of it off and re-do it... :rolleyes:

Erm, found out that it was a lath and plaster ceiling. After spending the whole day carting out a tonne of old plaster, coating the entire house in dust and coming away looking like a coal miner I read up on what to do next. Turns out that I think I should have just left it as it was :rotfl:If anyone reading this is at the "plaster looked fairly rough stage" - just leave it alone. Strip the artex and get it skimmed.

So the problem - hoping for some advice. I now have a lath ceiling (no plaster anymore). Do I:

1. clean it up and get it replastered? My concern - the laths must be about 110 years old - how good a job is this going to be and how long will it last?
2. tear down the laths and put up plasterboard? Nightmare of a job? Unnecessary?
3. plasterboard over the laths - feel really sceptical about this because the laths are uneven and I can't believe it will be a good job.

Anyone? :beer:

(Back to shovelling up bucketloads of plaster)

adaze

Board over, to be on the safe side. Probably cheaper and easier IMO.

wallbash

I did option 2 :eek::eek:

If you have removed the plaster :T and only have the lath left
You have done 90% of the job.

Laths make a great bonfire.
Nails are a pain , hundreds of them
Then board , not difficult with help, then expert skim

andrew-b

Don't forget there's probably loft insulation waiting to fall down too...clear above first if your going to do option 2! With the amount of plaster dust created about the house already (btw the artex might have contained asbestos :eek:) you might as well finish the demolition job. I hate cover-up jobs with a vengeance as i keep falling victim to them in our house! Nothing is ever as straightforward as it initially seems to start with! Would love to just for once do a job in our house that doesn't take days making good previous cover ups or shortcuts. Building a house from scratch would be so much easier sometimes!

Andy

tomstickland

Ripping it all down is the best thing to do.
Boarding over it is a lazy !!!! bodge.


I found that the claw end of a pry bar made an excellent hooked hammer.

Dust mask essential.
Replace with plaster board and get a plasterer to skim it.


Putting the new boards up is pretty easy. You can cut it by using a knife to break the paper skin and it then snaps over a straight edge.
Load of plaste board nails.
You can use the small boards, or if you have two people the larger boards.

Incisor

Wot wallbash says. There is no benefit now in keeping the lath.

Because of the nails, lath is potentially dangerous if you tread on it, so be disciplined. Clear the floor before you start and throw it all into a corner as you take it down - then clear that corner when you come to take out the lath above it.Also take care not to work on a step ladder with the lath pile behind you.

fragola

I ripped mine down in my last house - the finish did looks lots better a couple of friends who borded over.

JennyB

Tea break. Thought I'd try to post a photo, not sure if this will work:



Taking the lime plaster off the wall too as it turns out!

Having trouble getting rid of all the rubble - wheelie bin is full and smart car is fairly chocolate teapot when it comes to getting stuff like this to the tip :rotfl:Planning to pile it up in the garden somewhere and then get rid of it by wheelie bin over a few weeks

abbecer

We had plaster board put over the lath and it was fine. When the plasterboard is skimmed over you won't see any lumps and bumps anyway. Then to further disguise any imperfections make sure you use matt paint on your ceiling.

Hope it all goes ok

Rebeccax

wallbash

Just to cheer you up !

I took all the ceilings down , in all the rooms, upstairs and downstiairs:j
( then took all the plaster off of all the walls .... enough of my problems)

With a couple of friends and a bit of forethought , ceilings were not a a major problem .

Dust/muck was
But a getting a guy in to skim was not as expensive as i thought.
Plaster is cheap and they seem to cover a large area quickly.
Dont bother asking me about costs... I'm years out of date.

wallbash

( must learn to type quicker)

then get rid of it by wheelie bin over a few weeks

You end up moving everything twice.
I think a small skip might be the answer