Lath plaster ceiling removal/replacement

One-step-at-a-time

Does anyone have experience of having a crumbling lath & plaster ceiling taken down and having the ceiling redone?
We’ve got a kitchen ceiling about 4m x 4m which has had two large chunks of plaster come down (about 1m square total ) exposing the lath - the house is about 110 years old.

There is a coat of skim plaster over the original ceiling which we think was done about 25 years ago; none of the other rooms have been replastered and this is the only one that’s got a problem.

For the sake of safety our preference would be to get the rest taken down before any other bits fall off and have the whole thing redone, but we have no experience of how big a job this would be or what would be a reasonable quote. We’re going to start looking for quotes (in SE London) this week, but any advice would be welcomed!

Thanks

daveyjp

It is the dirtiest job you can ever imagine. Youtube has videos of how bad it can be.

JuzaMum

My house is the same age with plaster and lath. We have had the kitchen ceiling over boarded. Could you do the same? It's a lot less messy and cheaper.

Doozergirl

It's really, really messy but it isn't a long job and it's the proper way of doing it, particularly if you've actually got bits falling now. It's potentially weight added to the new plasterbaord if you overboard and that isn't what it's designed for.

No one enjoys it.

flashg67

One of those jobs that you can't prepare for just how dirty a job it is! Having done it 30 yrs ago, somewhat naively in my first house, I've done everything I can to avoid it again. If you can face it though, you'll never have to do it again once done

FreeBear

Doozergirl wrote: »

It's really, really messy but it isn't a long job and it's the proper way of doing it, particularly if you've actually got bits falling now. It's potentially weight added to the new plasterbaord if you overboard and that isn't what it's designed for.

Having done two ceilings so far in my 1920s semi, I can confirm it is a real messy job. If you (the OP) decide to do it yourself, get a couple of disposable overalls, a decent dust mask, goggles, and gloves. A hard hat may also be advisable. Tape dust sheets over everything and also tape some heavy gauge plastic over the doors - That will keep most of the dust out of the rest of the house, but some will still escape. Do not underestimate the quantity of waste that will be produced. A 4mx4m ceiling will quite easily fill a bulk sand bag and weigh around 1,000Kg.


Taking down the laths isn't too difficult, but you must make sure all nails are removed. Mole grips and a decent claw hammer comes in handy.


Overboarding is an option, but getting the screws to hit the joists first time, every time, is a bit of a crap shoot - Would strongly recommend screws rather than nails regardless of whether you remove the original ceiling or overboard.


A day to remove the old ceiling and put plasterboard up. A second day to skim. If you are paying someone to do the job (probably a two man team), budget something in the region of £800-£1000 including materials. If you have any wall units that need taking down first, this will increase the cost. Then once they are done, another week or four to clean the dust out of the rest of the house.

One-step-at-a-time

Thank you everyone for your replies - I don't think we will be tackling the job ourselves (other than taking down the wall units and moving furniture and appliances), and I've now found two very promising looking local-ish companies who will give us free quotes. Really appreciate the comments here!

JohnB47

Two things to mention, from experience. If you decide to have the ceiling taken down, wrap all of your hifi or similar electronics in clingfilm. The fine dust will get everywhere (and will mess with your volume controls, at least).

Second, if you choose to go for overboarding, bear in mind that the typical method of holding spotlights in place requires a certain minimal thickness of ceiling to clip into place. We had our bathroom overboarded and the clips holding the spotlight fittings in place are really under pressure because of the new deeper thickness of the ceiling (lath, old plaster, daub, plasterboard and skim coat).

If I had my time again, I'd ask a plasterer to remove the old plaster, leaving the lath in place and re plaster. Or I'd remove the old plaster myself and say - there you go, plaster and finish plaster that lot.

Dean000000

You wouldn’t like, consider, different spotlights?

king132

Horrible, horrible Job! The house I'm renovating at the moment had in some rooms the original lath which had been over boarded twice on top! I had it all taken down and did some myself. If yours has artex on the ceiling then you should check it doesn’t have asbestos, before getting anyone to do it.


Found 15 dead mice in mine…

tacpot12

When I had a similar job to do, I hired an asbestos removal company to remove ceiling, as they could do so without any dust entering the room. It cost a fortune, but there was no dust anywhere. It was a commercial job and money was no object.