ceiling, what to do?!?

[hairy200]

first post so hope its a good un!
i have a ceiling its lathe and plaster and basicaly its all cracked and dead!
room only small 2*4 (mt) i was considering lowering the ceiling but i am probably going to overboard it, so a few questions!
1 i would like to use tapered edge board and tape and fill the joints, is this a good idea or shall i just skim it?
2 how bad would a ceiling have to be to not overboard it?
3 best size of dry wall screws?


any tips of what to or not to do would be really appreciated!
plastering history is ok ish i have d and d`d a large living room to a good standard skimmed nice and smooth with minimal blemishes so i am confident enough to tackle this ceiling but i would just like to be clear on what i need to do!
cheers!!

 

[roughcaster]

Hi,
Be careful when you overboard a ceiling with the original plaster still in place.There is a fair old bit of weight up there,and if the condition of the plaster is a bit iffy,and because it's only a small room I would remove all the old plaster,clean ALL the debris from the old lath,and then overboard it.Some remove the lath as well,but if it's fairly flat then leave it on.Use 12mm plasterboard,fix with inch and a half screws minimum,tape the joints or skim,and bob's your uncle.

Roughcaster