Replacing Kitchen Ceiling (plus Downlights)

Ben1989 · 17 February 2020 at 1:34PM

Hi all,

We moved into our house a few months ago now and done some modernising in terms of decorating. However, our kitchen is an old not-a-nice-place-to-be area. It is small and needs some uplifting. We (the wife) didn't want to spend money as our long term plan is to extend to the side as other houses down the street have done.

However, my wife thinks we'll have £30,000 lying around in two years time which we definitely won't. She's right about a lot of things but her timescales with this are short of the mark. So I've suggested we spend a little just to make it look nice until at least 5 years time where we'll look at finances for the long term. Background story over.

The ceiling in our current kitchen is shot. Above the current ceiling was/is artex to the lathe and plaster. The current ceiling is tatty, flimsy thin wood and the artex ceiling is falling off in bits above it and causing the wooden ceiling to bow. It was probably a quick easy fix. By the way the artex was tested and came back negative for asbestos

So, I'd like to remove the current flimsy wooden ceiling and the artex. That leaves me with the lathe and plaster. I am a complete new beginner to houses and DIY so excuse my questions below with regards to removal.

1) Does the lathe and plaster also need to come down?
2) Will it be attached to the joints above? (I presume it is)
3) Above the kitchen is a tiled bathroom. Can it be removed without access from above?
4) Any tips on removal? (e.g. timescales, order of removal etc)
5) Am I out of my mind for removing this myself?

What is involved in a new ceiling? Is it merely screwing plasterboard to the joints above? However, I'd like to have spotlights so I image some space would be required for that? What is required first? Electrician installing the spotlight hardware first or the ceiling up first?

Go easy on me

Ineedausername · 17 February 2020 at 2:23PM

hi there
i have been through a similar journey - i just did the whole house rather than one ceiling. our home is built in the 1930's and the last time it was decorated was in 1980's
in a nut shell, we removed all the plaster off every wall, and ceiling. we then plasterboarded this with insulating plasterbaord.
i was advised to remove the lathe/plaster lock stock and barrel. why? it was easier to asses the joists, help with cabling/plumbing and insulation and the plasterboard will sit more securely and flat rather than on an uneven surface, electricians will thank you and should reduce our cost (it did)
Removal process
PPE - hardhat/gloves/eye masks/breathing/overalls - make sure these are used as you will be thankful later. mask - dont buy the pundland ones- make sure it has the decent filters that are changeable. for £20 or so its worth the investment
you need to check for all electrical/plumbing lines above the ceiling. make sure they are safe and out of harms way. the last thing you need is to be fixing this too after your hammer has gone through it
turn the electric off if you can along with the water. i used a temp light with two adjustable heads to help.
ventilation - if possible open a window or door in the kitchen. it will allow some - not all - of the duct to settle quicker. unless its windy then you dont want your doors/windows open!
i dont know anything about asbestos in ceilings, we had ours checked when they removed the boiler pipe which was highlighted by my neighbour that it may have contained asbestos cement. The company said we were ok to crack on as this is was not present. they still took the boiler pipe out - better safe then sorry and i thank my neighbour for pointing that out to us.
cover everything! i mean everything, if you can move it to another room the better you are. cover the units and worktops with some plastic sheets that you can wrap up and recycle , remove kettles/toasters etc too
cover all internal door ways nearest to your kitchen/area with plastic sheets/gaffer tape. once you start try not to go back and forth into another room. the dust generated is huge once you start - dont stop until the whole ceiling is down. this will help with the removal of rubble/wood/fluff
i used two builders trestles and planks of wood to get to the right height - this made it easier for me but i did use steps in other areas
the lathe's themselves are secured on the joist by nails. i used a gorilla bar and a lump hammer to begin with - punched a hole in the middle and pull down - concentrate on getting the wood off - the plaster comes down with it. i finished off with a smaller bar and hammer and used a spade to pile all the rubble in one corner
when the ceiling is down you have to remove all the protruding nails left in the joists as these will interfere with the new plasterboard
rubbish removal - we grabbed some heavy duty bags from toolstation and garden centre and filled these up with rubble. we separated the wood into another pile. this helped us get rid of some of the waste at the local tip. we cleaned the wood and used as kindling for the fire
as there was so much rubble, it became cheaper to hire (time spent bagging/tip run whilst i still had a huge to do list) a roll on/off skip and they took this away in one go.
it took us about 5 weeks from start to finish. we did the whole house top to bottom.
a ceiling in a kitchen can be tackled in a day
can this be achieved? of course it can. just depends on what you can and able to do. i went to go and help my uncle a few months ago taking down his ceiling. i left him to it as he just cracked on
once its all down you have a better understanding of where the cables can be run for the downlights and where you can install them without having the joists in the way
the biggest part is the amount of mess generated. the aftermath of a tiny film of dust everywhere. other than that - good luck
let us know you get on
hope this helps
INeedAUsername

Ben1989 · 17 February 2020 at 2:58PM

Wow, this helps a lot! Thank you so much. Do you think I'll need a skip for a kitchen size ceiling?

What was your new ceiling like/installed? Was it mounted directly onto the joints or suspended?

Ineedausername · 17 February 2020 at 4:17PM

i think for the ceiling you should be fine with rubble bags - if you are taking it to the tip its worth remembering some centres only allow up to a a number of rubble bags per visit
ours were directly on joists - if i recall i think this is the standard method of install for lathe/plaster

Ben1989 · 17 February 2020 at 4:28PM

Thank you for your info!

What is required for down lights? Do they need a suspended ceiling?

Ineedausername · 17 February 2020 at 5:33PM

downlights - you get different types and fittings.
LED is probably the best way to go, less heat, bills and alot brighter than traditional bulbs. downside is that you have to replace the entire fitting if the bulb goes. you have mains voltage and use LED bulbs but you pay more for the bulb; especially dimmable type
You don't have to have much space in the ceiling void to fit LED lights - the it between the plasterboard and the floorboards above it - slim ones with their transformer pack will easily fit in most ceilings but do check the manufacturers specs
Make sure they are fire reg approved (if you can, keep away from imports) and tick the box when it comes to zoning - an electrician can help you on this bit or have a read on the net
ours are main voltage with LED bulbs. the ones where they are in close contact with insulation or close to the ceiling have a fire cage; basically a plastic cage around the top of the fitting to keep away insulation etc. not much in the way of safety in my opinion but the building inspector 'liked' to see them, so we had them