Lath & Plaster Ceiling

[Rob Morley]

There's no point replacing the framing if that's still sound - strip the=20 plaster and lath, then see what it's like underneath.

[Cicero]

================== I used a garden spade (from above) - no blisters and much less danger of falling through the joists! It chopped off the laths easily leaving just the nails to remove once the dust had settled.

Cic.

[Dave Jones]

Cheapest place I know of is magnet (yep the kitchen place).

[Andrew Gabriel]

My local Wickes stocks it. Wheeled 3 large sheets of it home on one of their trollies.

[Chris Bacon]

What's a "large sheet"? 12.5/15/19mm thick by 2700/3000x1200? OK, I'm not serious here. 8x4x1/2"

[bigcat]

Everyone so far has recommenedd breaking it down, but this is not a good idea imho. Since IIRC your ceiling is not at risk of falling down, the logical thing is to PB over it.

Advantages:

1=2E avoids the mess from hell that pulling down L&P creates. Everyone seems to think they can use dust sheets and avoid the worst of it, but the reality is everything in the room will be trashed. I know cos I've done it.

2=2E PBing over it thus avoids having to empty the room.

3=2E You then put up 1 layer PB onto a fairly flt surface, rather than 2 layer onto joists with 1000 nails poking out.

4=2E You end up with much better sound insulation if you keep the L&P there. And a better rated firebreak as well.

Unless the L&P is dangerous there is really no good reason to pull it down. Those ceilings have often lasted a century and are happy to continue for decades ahead.

The other option is to skim the L&P, with no PB.

PS always use proper PB screws on PB, forget trying to nail it.

NT

[PeTe33]

quickest and by far the cleanest is to overboard the whole lot with long screws then skim over.

We had this done with several large(ish) ceilings in the flat above our shop about 6 years ago and there's been no problem with any cracking or movement or anything.

the added layer will prolly help with sound reduction and heat loss to a degree.

[PeTe33]

I did this accidentally while a few boards were up. Needless to say, a foot & leg through a plaster lath ceiling is very difficult to escape from and fairly painful.

you need to hang on to stop going through further but need to let go to try and snap off the individual laths to allow removal of ones appendage.

[Stuart]

I had my kitchen ceiling replaced by my insurance company and the guys said the mess would be horrendous removing the L+P ceiling .What they did was strap battens to the joists through the existing ceiling and fix the plasterboarsd to them and tape joint the boards .It lokked fine and still does .

Stuart

[Séan Connolly]

Its pretty badly bowed which seems to sugest that the l&p has come away from the joists (in fact it looks like the celing rose is holding it up!)

[Chris Bacon]

That'll strain your plasterboard fixings...

[John Rumm]

You could counter batten it first, and fix those with more serious screws to pull the L&P back into line. The fix the PB to the counter battens.

[Owain]

Battening might strain the plaster to cracking. Perhaps loosly fitting plywood under the ceiling, then acropropping it up to push the laths back on the joist, then screwing the plywood to the joists, would support everything. Would then need plasterboard as I don't think plywood meets fire regs.

Owain

[John Rumm]

It might, but would you care if you are going to PB over it anyway?

This technique can work for reparing a L&P ceiling - push it back temporarily and then pour extra bonding plaster on top to stabilise it...

[Owain]

I was thinking the PB might not have sufficient pull-through strenth on its fixings to support the weight of L&P if the L&P was sagging?

Owain

[John Rumm]

Yup, see what you are getting at. I think we are taking at cross purposes.

I was suggesting that cross battens at 400mm c/c be screwed through the L&P into the joists with decent screws. The cross battens alone will then fix the L&P very firmly in place and eliminate any sag. The PB would then be screwed to the battens (rather than the joists or L&P), using drywall screws in the normal way.

[Chris Bacon]

Something odd about the attributions here.... however, WRT repairing P&L ceilings, if the nails have let go (rust or pull-out) this is a not recommended repair.

[John Rumm]

Should help to keep it in one lump when it falls down though ;-)

[Chris Bacon]

Oooch. Might be a bit hard getting it out of the door (or down stairs!).

[Owain]

Just carpet over it and hope the m-i-l doesn't make too big a bulge

Owain