HELP!! - LATH AND PLASTER WALL - to repair.

[PeterRayner]

I have started to take down tiles from an old, previous shower area - but the wall is coming away in chunks in places - revealing lath.
What is needed to repair this wall ( lath and plaster)? The plaster coming away is about 3 - 4 cms thick.
I do not really want to remove all plaster from lath (?) I am in flat - so mess would be terrible as plaster is so thick. But presumably the wall is "blown"? I have no idea what is the best solution. I need to retain the lath - or the whole wall has gone.
Any advice much appreciated.

 

[Diyisfun]

Might not be the pro way, but what I did (the area was only about 2ft x 2ft).
I cut strips of plaster board, buttered them & put them in the hole & pulled them back to the lathe, then plastered on the front face.

Method
Get a strip of plaster board 3" or so wide as ong as required, drill a hole in the middle, put an old coat hanger in the hole & use this then to pull the strip of plaster board back to you.

Hope that is clear.

As I said I am a diyer (with years & years of experence)

 

[PeterRayner]

Thanks Diyisfun - that's a great idea to repair lath and plaster! Would never have thought of that! Lots of hard work though!

 

[Diyisfun]

Thanks Diyisfun - that's a great idea to repair lath and plaster! Would never have thought of that! Lots of hard work though!

Look at the fun you can have telling people just how you did it, they will think you are so clever..

 

[dextrous]

If the whole wall, or large parts of it, are unsound but basically level, you could overboard the whole wall, screwing through the plasterboard into the existing studwork. Then skim or directly tile onto. What is your intended use/finish of this room?

 

[jrplastering]

the way i would repeair the wall if compleatly stripping it back to stud work is not an option would be to cut the hole back to the upright studs then cut two or three lengths of batten to the size of the hole screw through at an angle through the new wood into the exsisting studs on each end then tack a bit of plasterboard ontop of the new studs, depending on the depth of the hole mabey bond it out to level then scrim tape the joints and skim the whole wall this would give you the strength in the patch that i wouldnt have thought you would get with the other methods. i know this comes across as very indepth but its really very simple and i belive it is the best way to deal with this problem to keep maximum strength in the wall

 

[morrik27]

If the rest of the wall is still quite sound, and not falling off (if it's a little loose you can still get away with it)..... use a spade/flat bit around the eges, and make some counterbores in line with the laths, then use stainless screws, and some large flat washers to screw back the existing plaster to the laths and give it back some strength.

Use a sharp stanley knife to smooth off the edges of the holes you counterbored. then you can put a little PVA round the side of the holes ready to fill with either a backing plaster, or some sharp sand and lime putty.

Once the edge of the hole is sound, clean up the laths, brush then over to get rid of the dust, then damp them down with water. Now you can simply use either the backing plaster, or sharp sand and putty to put the firsts/scratch coat on.....when you scratch it, do it at 45 degrees to the lathes, otherwise you might end up cutting through and loosing the keys on the back. then put the seconds on once it's dried (leave it a week or so if your using a lime putty mix (less for NHL or a backing plaster). then simply skim it over once done. just leave the seconds slightly back from the finished edge.

If you use lime putty from the start, mix up the set coat with play sand, or kiln dried sand 50/50.