To Remove Lath or Not?

[mylittlehouse]

Hello All
I have bought a 1900's victorian house
There is wallpaper on the celings.

I am going to have the lounge walls and celing skimmed but just for a moment thought would it be better to go the whole hog and rip down the current plaster and lath and put up boards?

The room has the original decrative coving all the way round, will these be attached to the wall or the celing so if i do remove it does not get damdged?

What is your best advice for a really nice finish and to avoid further crack in the celing plaster over the years.

Thanks All

 

[JohnD]

the coving, and certainly any cornice, is much more likely to have been precast in strips, than moulded onto the ceiling.

if you have L&P is is probably thick lime plaster and much more soundproof than a modern plasterboard ceiling. However it can sag if the nibs have broken off. It can be repaired but this is labour intensive.

if you pull down the ceiling you can expect to ruin the coving.

If you have an old house you might notice that original features are a selling point and improve its value.

 

[mylittlehouse]

hi there
thanks for the detailed reply.
I will keep the original then and get my brother to skim over it.
i love the original cornice and def want to keep it.
I will remove the wall paper from the celing this week and prep for skimming.

Thanks so much

 

[dougalhouse]

Chances are the ceilings been papered to cover over the cracks that are bound to be in the old lathe and plaster.

It's worth considering that the extra weight of the new plaster could upset the old plaster and any cracks would quickly come back.

Would you get away with over boarding with 9.5mm boards up to the existing cornice without ruining the detail? (ie is the cornice deep enough?)

 

[mylittlehouse]

hi there
i just had a look and i dont think i have room for a 9.5mm board but looking at the pics below you will get the idea.

quite a bit of the cornice is also cracked and i worry that no amount of skimming will fix this ot if it does it will crack again and again.

Have a look see what you think

 

[1john]

Be careful removing the wallpaper from the ceiling as it looks as if the top coat plaster may be loose around those cracks. If you push up on the ceiling is there alot of play?

 

[JohnD]

it is quite likely that no new cracks have occurred for about 66 years, so if it is repaired it need not crack again.

you need to look under the upstairs floor and see how many of the nibs are still in place between the laths, and the condition of the laths.

It can be repaired if loose ( I wrote how on //search.diynot.com/forum_sear...=any&author=JohnD&search=Search+Forum&stype=0

 

[roughcaster]

I would say that your cornice would have been run in situ, and if sound,, looks worth keeping. I would also "not" overboard a ceiling that might be unsafe,, (and i'm not saying that yours is). Strip off the paper, and get a reputable plasterer to come in and give you his opinion on the condition of your ceiling. I've worked on plenty of them, and sometimes they look worse than what they really are. If it comes to the crunch, and the ceiling is not worth keeping, there is a way you can take down the ceiling, without destroying the cornice. You woud just need to cut into the "plaster", carefully, "all around the perimeter of the ceiling" with a stanley knife or similar, about 3" or so, out from the cornice. "Don't cut into the wooden lath". Once you have cut into the plaster all around the ceiling, you can then remove all the old plaster from the lath. After all the plaster has been removed, this will leave you with the cornice still intact, and a 3" border for you to work from once you have re-boarded the ceiling. Make sure you remove all the debris/lumps from between the old wooden lath, as this will stop the new sheets of plasterboard sitting flat onto the lath as you screw it into place. Once you have the new sheets in place, your plasterer will tape all the joints in the sheets, and he will also be able to tape/join the new sheets to the 3 "strip of plaster you left all around the cornice. The ceiling is now ready to be floated and set to the original level of the plaster strip, and then any cracks in the cornice can be repaired. Once again, don't overboard a ceiling if it seems loose. If you do and the old ceiling fails,, it'll take the new plasterboard with it.

 

[keyplayer]

Once again, don't overboard a ceiling if it seems loose. If you do and the old ceiling fails,, it'll take the new plasterboard with it.

Out of curiosity, why would this be? Wouldn't screwing right through to the joists with screws of adequate length, and an adequate number of said screws be enough to hold it all up?

 

[mylittlehouse]

Excellent replys all thanks so much.

So i also wonder if the new board would not hold up the old plaster?

 

[roughcaster]

Once again, don't overboard a ceiling if it seems loose. If you do and the old ceiling fails,, it'll take the new plasterboard with it.

Out of curiosity, why would this be? Wouldn't screwing right through to the joists with screws of adequate length, and an adequate number of said screws be enough to hold it all up?

There's a lot of weight hanging up there, and even if it didn't take the plasterboard off, it will certainly be enough to deform the shape of the plasterboard ceiling.
Look at it this way,,, if the old ceiling wants to come loose and drop, you're relying on a few dozen screws and a few sheets of plasterboard to hold up many hundredweights of old lath and plaster. Ive seen it happen so that's why i'm mentioning it. I'm not saying you should never overboard a lath and plaster ceiling, you can,, but if it's badly cracked/unstable, then it wouldn't be wise to overboard it, and then think that solves the problem, it doesn't, it just hides it. This is not referring in any way to "your" ceiling in particular, it's just my point of view and opinion on this subject.

 

[roughcaster]

Another thing i forgot to mention MLH, if you do overboard, then you will lose a part of the feature on the cornice,, it's not an easy call really!

 

[JohnD]

...you need to look under the upstairs floor and see how many of the nibs are still in place between the laths, and the condition of the laths.

It can be repaired if loose....

 

[mylittlehouse]

Hi all
Spoke to my uncle today who is a full time plasterer and he told me to pull it down now rather than later also it will make lagging the heating pipes and woodworm treatment easy for this part of the house.

It will be messy and take a long time but better to do it now while the room is empty and un used than in the future when it's used and cracks annoy me to much.

Thanks all for your replies now i need to get some rubble sacks and start to remove the old celing very very carefully.

Any advice on this would be great.

 

[Micilin]

It's quite possibly the most horrible job you will have to do in your house.

A cheap dust mask will not be enough.