Is 'Lathe and plaster' the same as or equaivalent to 'Lime plaster' a -please help! '

AngelRay

Myself and Dp are (hopefuly!!) in process of buying a grade two listed building, which needs a lot of work :eek: We are in a G2 listed place at the moment but have never needed to do any substantial work so need to learn a lot in a short space of time! Obviously will be consulting Council ref LB planning but would be good to have an idea of what we are looking at first.

Main immediate issue in new house is the ceilings, they are all severely sagging/bowed and look as thought hey have been repaired umpteen times so IMO need to be replaced.

Want to start getting a few proper quotes but no one in the yellow pages advertises as doing 'lathe and plaster'. A few do 'conservation work- lime plaster' or similar, and I am wondering if this is another name for 'lathe and plaster' or something that is a good substiture. Please help spare my blushes:o !!

Also if anyone is willing to give a very rough idea of costings, ie rough price per Metre square that would be fab.

Thanks

joe14729

In the days before plasterboard, thin strips of wood were nailed onto the ceiling joists and plastered over. Small gaps between these laths allowed the plaster to enter and fold over between the laths therefore preventing the plaster from falling, and also strengthened the ceiling. I do not know what type of plaster was used however, but it may well have been a lime based one.

weekendwarrior

My mate has just been renovating a listed building, but I am not sure which grade. The building is of historical importance though and it used to be a military building in the 1800's and then became a prison governors house.

Lath and plaster looks like this-

lath & plaster

He had lots of damaged plaster ceilings and they were simply replaced with plasterboard and then skimmed over. Repairing them is not always possible and so many were ripped down and then replaced with plasterboard. When they are plastered you cannot tell the difference.

He had to get a specailist in to re plaster the walls as they were lime plaster, and it was not cheap- or easy to find someone that could do it.

jenny-wren

Lathe and plaster is what is used on internal walls and ceilings in older properties. Its essentially strips of wood covered in plaster. Newer builds use a base coat and finishing skim of plaster onto brick or plasterboard.

As far as I remember (from watching house renovation programmes!) lime plaster is a different, more traditional type of plaster for those whose are required (or want) to finish walls in the same way as they may have been done originally. It's all about the materials used rather than the method.

I would imagine you are looking for a basic plasterer than can either replace your lathe and plaster ceilings or is used to working with them and can replaster them. Unless you are restricted to replacing what is there with lime plaster as part of the conditions of renovating your listed building (which I doubt) you have no need to call in the lime plaster guys.

bryanb

I thought grade 2 listing only applied to the exterior, but willing to be corrected.

jac29

Hi, Best advice is to arrange a meeting with someone from your Local Authority who will be overseeing/approving your work. They are the absolute best people to give you advice. After all, if they aren't happy it wont be approved! Our LA have been fab with us over with building issues.
The house that we live in is 160 yrs old and had beamed ceilings that had been boarded over and had spotlights put it?!? When we pulled these down it was lather and plaster i.e thin strips of wood which had been plastered over with a lime based plaster incorporating horse hair, under which was a base of straw...believe me i pulled it all down so i truly know!
My hubby is a qualifed plasterer and to replaster he nailed a thin frame between each beam which he boarded and skimmed. It was incredibly time consuming but the results are fab.
Good luck

border_collie

You might not get permission to take down sagging lath and plaster ceilings.

Your local Conservation Officer is the person to chat to before buying.

They can be repaired and supported sometimes. If you are looking at jobs and thinking of ripping out and replacing then perhaps a listed building with loads to do isn't the best idea.

A modern gypsum plastering job will never look as beautiful as an old plaster and lath job.

And yes it is lime plaster.
Oh and "lathes" are very heavy bits of machinery.:cool:

looby-loo_2

border_collie wrote: »

A modern gypsum plastering job will never look as beautiful as an old plaster and lath job.

We had a kitchen extension and a plasterboard ceiling was fitted. 20 years on and the 4' plaster board squares are clearly visible along the length and width of the ceiling. We are considering having it skimmed to hide the problem.

Canucklehead

Hi


Very good source of information Brick and Brass.will help if you buy the property.

Corgi Guy.

Fire_Fox

AngelRay wrote: »

Myself and Dp are (hopefuly!!) in process of buying a grade two listed building, which needs a lot of work :eek: We are in a G2 listed place at the moment but have never needed to do any substantial work so need to learn a lot in a short space of time! Obviously will be consulting Council ref LB planning but would be good to have an idea of what we are looking at first.

Main immediate issue in new house is the ceilings, they are all severely sagging/bowed and look as thought hey have been repaired umpteen times so IMO need to be replaced.

Want to start getting a few proper quotes but no one in the yellow pages advertises as doing 'lathe and plaster'. A few do 'conservation work- lime plaster' or similar, and I am wondering if this is another name for 'lathe and plaster' or something that is a good substiture. Please help spare my blushes:o !!

Also if anyone is willing to give a very rough idea of costings, ie rough price per Metre square that would be fab.

Thanks

I would consult the Conservation Officer at your local council even at this early stage; they are usually willing to give advice even before a sale has gone through. You will do much better to have a strong working relationship from the earliest stage as a conservation officer has the powers to make your life very difficult indeed. They may be willing to meet with you and the potential builder at the same time, so you can more easily iron out any differences of opinion in what should or should not, can or can not be done at the outset. They may give out leaflets on rules and regs, have recommended tradesmen, etc.

Some officers insist you leave as much of the original structure in place as possible and just patch up, others will allow you to remove the plaster but leave the laths, and occasionally they will allow you to remove the laths as well. Lath and plaster is much more flexible that plasterboard, so a ceiling should be replaced like with like where possible. Personally speaking, I don't think there is any place for plasterboard in an old property - to me it's a bodge whether it can be seen or not.

However, it's a very skilled job to get new plaster to form a 'key' between the laths properly especially when gravity is not on your side - it's easier (if you are allowed) to retain the laths, tack over some chicken wire and then plaster over that with a lime and horsehair mix. Traditional paints adhere better to a lime-based plaster and allow it to breathe properly - but these are not cheap!

AngelRay

Hello
thanks for all the replies!
I think the suggestion of getting the local conservation officer LB planning officer out is a great idea, I wasn't aware that they would come out before you had put an application in.

If the ceilings could be restored that would of course be ideal, but even to the untrained eye (ME!) they look quite far gone. Massively bowed and lots of splits etc. To be honest they don't look safe, hence why we would need to do that job as a matter of priority. Obviously if they do need replacing we are willing to go to the expense of replacing it with the nearest thing thats available.