hi all.
I’m doing some renovations on my house- putting some new wiring. In the process, I have to put some holes in my walls and ceilings. Anyone have suggestion/tips on how to fix the lathe and plaster after I’m done running the wire? I’ve done renos on drywall, fitting drywall plugs, but how do I do that with lathe and plaster.
thanks
Replies
If you mean wood lath, I usually carefully cut the plaster back carefully with a knife or RotoZip, leaving the lath intact, i.e., the hole in the plaster is bigger than the hole in the lath, and it's nice and square. Be very careful not to disturb the lath and break the plaster keys. Then I fill the hole in the plaster with a 3/8" drywall patch, screwing to the lath. Tape and use setting type compound to level it out.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Ditto what Mike said,
3/8" drywall, Durabond 90.
Be very careful, patches tend to keep getting bigger, depending on the state of the original plaster.
If you want your patches to last, stick to lime based products. Mix in gypsum based products like joint compound and it will eventually fail.
There are numerous instructions over at the Old House Journal web site, if they haven't disappeared into the archives. Or try searching here.
Anyway, you can use rock lath or drywall reversed, then structo-lite as the scratch coat. Then it will depend on what you can get in your area. You are looking for finish plaster. If you are in N.E. you might get diamond finish, which is for skim coating. Or get molding plaster and mix about 1/4 molding plater to 3/4 lime. Setup time is fast. Use a hock and a trowel, not drywall knives.
If you want to avoid introducing paper products, you can use the metal diamond shape lath and screw it to the wood lath.