Lath & Plaster ceilings - remove or cover up??

ema_o

Hello
We have lath & plaster ceilings in our house which I've been told is not ideal - something about them cracking easily and possibly about not being able to get a smooth finish on them.

The question is should we take them out completely or should we just overboard.

I have read and been told that removing them will be a really messy job. The attic is actually covered in black dust which covers OH every time he has been up there:eek:. We have been told that we will need to hoover the attic before we start (if removing).
We also have high ceilings so I don't think we'll miss the space taken up by the boards.

However at the moment we have done very little work on the place and the whole house needs decorating. Part of me wants to take them down just to make sure we do the job properly. Our bathroom ceiling already has a hole in it from taking a partition wall down so I'm not sure whether it would be possible to board over this one (but there are 3 other rooms and the landing that we probably could).
Also I'm wondering whether it will make sorting the electrics more difficult - having to take light fittings through the lath & plaster and the board (I don't know much about electrics so this is an assumption of what would need to be done).

Our plan at the moment is to take down the rest of the bathroom ceiling and make a decision based on how this goes about the rest of them. Does this sound like a reasonable plan?

Has anyone done this and regretted it, or overboarded and regretted that?? Any comments much appreciated!

Thanks
Em

Incisor

Taking down old L&P is the vilest filthiest job imaginable in a house. If decorating is all that is required, then decorate over, but if the ceilings need attention, my vote is to take down the L&P and put up plasterboard. Overboarding is possible, you need longer nails and it is difficult to get the nails in the right place. Plus with the hammering, if some comes down you may have a ripple in the boards or end up having to take the lot down and start again.

wallbash

Taking down old L&P is the vilest filthiest job imaginable in a house

Yes done that , got the t-shirt!
To try and imagine the mess, stick your head in a bucket of soot!!!
Would be difficult to live in the house while removing the L/P
Others will say they have.... but would they do it again?

First question , are the ceilings already cracked, do you require a flat ceiling. The L/P has been there a long time , could you not just leave alone??

ormus

it makes more sense to overboard as the mess, really is very bad.
ok in an empty house, but not for a home when you are living in it.

if you really must pull it down:
certainly do one room at a time and seal the room off properly, with tape over the door gaps. get a simple water spray for the dust. (make one from a used Flash type bottle).
open the window!

robnye

and goodness sake wear a face mask........... cos blowing soot out of your nose for a week afterwards isnt nice.....

as said been there and done that.... preference in future is overboarding and skimming

BB1984

We boarded over our kitchen ceiling where some of the lath and plaster started to fall down (where we removed some hideous timber panelling!).

It was fine, pretty easy in fact, although the boards are fairly awkward and heavy to get up into place. We marked on the walls where the joists were, then screwed the boards into place with an electric drill.

BB

weekendwarrior

I also have the T shirt for pulling them down.

Overboarding them is the most sensible option.

ema_o

Thanks for the replies, there are a few cracks but nothing major, most of the celings are covered by some sort of woodchip looking stuff and one is covered in what looks like polystyrene tiles . We will want to smooth them out eventually but there is no rush for these (except for the bathroom with the hole in it!!)

The main reason I want to decide one way or the other is that we have no insulation in our roof and I want to get some up there - obviously not worth doing this if we are later going to take the ceilings down.

I also thought if we are taking them down it would be best to get them all done (one room at a time) before we do anything else to the place. We are living there, but we are only really using one room upstairs, not ideal but at least we could move from room to room if necessary.

I shall tell OH the analogy of sticking your head in a bucket of soot, that might help him decide one way or the other. Part of me is thinking how bad can it be but your replies suggest very!!

jason_s_2

And i got the tracksuite:rotfl: absoulte nightmare:eek: , and the dirt and dust is unreal :mad: overboarding is the cleanest and easiest way, but sometimes there is no other option but to rip the ceilings down.

angelavdavis

We have just had a plasterer in to redo our ceiling in one of the bedrooms which was lath and plaster and had collapsed due to a (now fixed) roof issue.

The mess was absolutely horrendous!

In our bedroom, we had the whole lot boarded over the top as it was badly cracked and likely to come down sooner or later and it is fine.

I wouldn't touch these ceilings unless they are really damaged as ours was.

ormus

regarding the ceiling with an existing hole, then just use another bit of PB in the hole first, then overboard it as per normal.
so you just use double thickness PB in certain places. but no real need for small/ish areas.

PB is very cheap.