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Discussion Forum

removing plaster ceilings

Taylor | Posted in General Discussion on September 12, 2004 02:00am

I’m in the process of taking down plaster ceilings to replace with DW. Of course I remembered too late that the ceilings were put up before the walls, and now I’ve got the issue of how to deal with the lath wedged in between joist and wall. My current plan is to slowly oh so slowly worry it out on the walls where the lath is perpendicular to the joists. Leave the lath on the parallel walls and fur all the joists with lath strips. Maybe try to get lath strips in under the joist on the perpendicular walls, then slip 1/2″ sag-resistant DW into the gap between lath strip and wall. The removal of the lath is slow and the wall is taking a beating, I am wondering if the wall could be protected with a strip of masking tape.

Out of curiosity, how do others usually handle this? I’ve been advised to just leave the mess at the the intersection of wall and ceiling and cover it up with crown molding. I can just see someone years from now pulling down the molding for replacement and getting a face full of insulation.

Another option that occured to me too late is to leave the last set of strips on the perpendicular walls. But that’s hard to do when pulling down the ceiling three joist bays out brings down a piece of lath right over the wall. I had intended leaving the lath up, but it was just way too slow….

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  1. JerBear | Sep 12, 2004 02:26pm | #1

    As Vinnie Barbarino said..."I'm so confused!!" 

    If I understand you correctly, you're worried about the cieling not being supported on the edges where the joists run parrellel to the walls?  Or is it the other way around?  Anyhow, strike a line on the walls maybe 1" down from what the sheetrock is going to be screwed to and carefully run a sawzall on the line around the plaster, pull down the old lath on the cieling...or not, and fir it out accordingly, put your rock up, throw plaster into the gap (if any)  that's now around the wall and cieling (not joint compound), tape that gap, then corner tape the room.  Voila!  You have to remember that plaster doesn't break where you want it to, if you're pulling down the cieling without some sort of cut separation in the plaster, you know that parts of the wall are going to come with it.  If you're trying to preserve plaster, the main thing is to not break the plaster keys of the origional scratch coat which mechanically bond the plaster to the lath.

    Or....yeah, you could put up crown.  Who cares what they think in the future after they've come and cleaned out your closet?  I know those Victorian builders didn't, that's for sure.

    1. User avater
      Taylor | Sep 12, 2004 02:51pm | #2

      Mainly I'm aiming for a tight connection between ceiling DW and wall plaster if possible. Something that doesn't look like POS without molding. But yeah, getting the DW into that gap so the wall provides some support would be nice. Really tricky, but would be nice.

      Won't the vibration from a sawzall play havoc with the wall plaster?

      1. JoeyB | Sep 12, 2004 03:26pm | #3

        If you are trying to save the wall plaster, I wouldn't use a sawzall. Miss your target once, or catch the blade, and watch the vibration tear up the plaster you were trying to save. Go with the crown!Coming to you from beautiful Richmond, Va.

        1. dinothecarpenter | Sep 12, 2004 09:25pm | #4

          If I have a choice I will go over the plaster with 3/8" or 1/2"drywall.The removal of plaster can only create  problems. And the removal of lathe creates even more.

          But If the choice is not there try to  leave the lathe in place.

          We restore entire buildings and many houses this way.After the electrician and the plumber the ceilings and walls they look like a Swiss cheese.But the integrity of the balloon framing was never jeopardize.(We even install fire stops)

          On the ceilings we install the drywall over metal furring and on the walls we laminate the drywall using joint compound and rock to rock screws.

          Once we made the mistake to remove all the plaster and all the lathe from one house and the lucky homeowner end up with a whole new house at our expense.

          YCF Dino

          1. User avater
            Taylor | Sep 13, 2004 12:29am | #5

            I had planned to leave the lath, but it was taking forever to remove the plaster from the lath. Now I've replaced one tedious time-consuming job with another. When I've finished this room, I may leave the lath in other rooms. Depends on how good or bad this turns out.

            I ruled out sheetrocking over plaster, the thought of that dead load looming over me at night gave me some pause.

          2. dinothecarpenter | Sep 13, 2004 02:04am | #6

            Hi Taylor.

            After the removal of plaster and lathe you HAVE to level the beams. You will find out that the ceiling beams can be as much as 2" off on a small room.

            By removing the plaster you're removing all the  plaster benefits too. And one of them is the leveling of the ceiling.If you notice the thickness of the plaster is more at the corners and less at the center of the room. So the plaster was used to hide some problems of the framing.

            and if (the thought of that dead load looming over me at night gave me some pause.).... you can find another way to deal with it.

            Find out how the beams run.And remove some plaster if you have to 12" from the outside wall. Secure the new furring with screws perpendicular to the beams.(even with the plaster on the ceiling you may have to seam the furring.)

            (This is a good time to replace  your electric wires)

            Good luck.

            YCF Dino

          3. User avater
            Taylor | Sep 13, 2004 02:22pm | #8

            Dino, thanks for the sage advice. Maybe for the other rooms.... If you're putting DW over plaster, I assume you are going through the plaster into the joists, and putting nailers beside the joists on the sides of the room? I've seen too much plaster peel away in chunks in the last few days to trust it to hold up rock. Please don't tell me you put up furring strips, I just got finished taking down the 2x2 furring strips that were holding up acoustic tiles....

            I discussed this on Breaktime before I started the project. I had the impression from that discussion that leveling was only necessary if one is leaving the lath up. A carpenter convinced me to forget the metal furring strips and just take down the lath. Back to the drawing board...

            One benefit of removing the lath is that you see the horrendously overloaded ceiling boxes that are up there....

          4. dinothecarpenter | Sep 13, 2004 03:42pm | #9

            So, make the best of the other side now. (the other carpenter advice)

            Remove the plaster by hitting the plaster with a 6 feet 2"x' lightly but many times. Don't try to brake the lathe as you want the lathe to bounce back every time and make the plaster loose.Clean the plaster of the floor before you start removing the lathe.

            Remove the lathe by inserting a 2"x4" (if you have help 2 is better) (2 people and 2- 2"x4"s) between the beams and above the lathe. You need a step ladder to this. Then pull the 2x4 down and the lathe should come down very easy and pulling most of the nails with it.

            Leave all furring strips that 're in top of the top plates and floor joists.  At this point you can replace the wiring and inspect the beams to see what and how to prepare the ceiling for drywall. (keep some of the removed lathe, you may need it)

            Good luck.

            YCF Dino

          5. JoeyB | Sep 13, 2004 04:08am | #7

            Sheetrocking over plaster is fine. Use long enough screws and screw into the rafters. Easiest method, and the ceiling stays pretty level. Also, as far as finishing corners, I can hang crown much faster then I can mud corners!Coming to you from beautiful Richmond, Va.

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