Lath & Plaster Ceiling

There is no easy way except with an hammer. Why worry about the lath, screw the plaster board to the joist.

Take the lath off too - most of it will break anyway, and it won't be level enough to plasterboard over. Use a claw hammer & wrecking bar. Prepare to be amazed at how much volume of crap you pull down!

You remove the lath + plaster. You can either kick it down from above, or if there's a floor above you pull it down from below with a crowbar.

The edges of the lathes overlap so if you don't take the lathes down the plasteboard wont be flat.I pulled it down with a claw hammer or crow bar then meticulously pulled the hundreds of nails out rather than knocking the in.

Kevin

Chears, lath + plaster down it is :)

Actually I have one wall that is lath and plaster as well (basically a partition wall), on which the plaster is pretty shagged. Would the same apply, just remove the whole lot and put up a new partition wall ?

Don't undersetimate the amount of dirt and dust involved. Open the windows, seal the door and wear a good respirator. No matter how much dirt and dust you expect, there will be more. Its one of the filthiest jobs there is.

I know if I was going to do this I would solidly secure a dust sheet to the ceilng in a four corner arrangement and knock the corners into the dust sheet via the loft if permitting, this would then lessen the clearing up process and dust and make it more easy. :-)

Yeah the guy who is doing all the plastering mentioned this ! The original idea was for him to do the whole lot, but in an atempt to keep costs down I'm doing the unskilled & dirty stuff :(

Could I not cut though the wall with an angle grinder and take the thing down in one piece ? Actually come to think of it that will probably set fire to the wall, so not a good idea!

I was thinking along these lines, but having the sheet on the floor. I presume you basically go in the loft, roll back the insulation and kick the ceiling out, having previously figured out where it actually is from above!

There isn't one - which is why plasterboard is often fitted on it rather than removing it all.

The plaster curls back over the laths, you cannot really remove the plaster without bringing down the laths.

Not only does it take time it generates a huge amount of mess as years of dust and debris come down with it.

Can you get above it? If so, just tread it down, or use a baulk of timber (watch for blisters!). If you can't get above it, use a pick-axe and pull it down from below. When it's down, pull out any nails which held the lath using a claw hammer. Rake out the top of the wall plaster to receive and support the edges of your plasterboard. When you put new plasterboard up, use 2" ELH clouts every

If it's that bad, remove the P&L, fix up any cabling you need to do, ensuring that it can be pulled through to replace in future if need be, and replace the P&L with two layers of 1/2" PB.

Where do you get 1/2 inch plasterboard? B&Q and Wickes only seem to stock 9.5mm pb

And you think pulling down L&P makes dust wait until you get an angle grinder into the equation!

If you need to cut it a bit more neatly then you can knock a hole through it and then use a reciprocating saw.

I've seen 1/2" (12.5mm) in B&Q, but can't see *any* PB on their useless website. It's commonly available, I'm surprised that these DIY places don't have it - all BMs do.

If it needs replacing, it won't come down in one piece, whatever you do.

Colin Bignell

Silly question this but...have you tried a DIY/local builders yard?

By far the best way - otherwise you're standing under it as you pull it=20 down. You'll still have to remove some bits of lath and nails from=20 below, but most of the plaster will be gone by then. Most of the nails=20 will probably come out with a hammer and bolster rather than using=20 pincers or a claw hammer on each one, and any broken ones can just be=20 hammered flat. You will probably be surprised at how much rubble you=20 have created.