my kitchen ceiling plaster has collapsed exposing the lath above will the lath have to be removed too?

Question

also a crack has appeared running into the next room and causing the plaster to sag here as well, the flat is over 100 yrs old and the plaster about 2 inches thick i only have a loft above these rooms but it is floored and sheeted out with plyboard so access from above is difficult. the rooms are quite large about 6 mtrs x 6 mtrs, what is the best way forward for me on a limited budget but lots of time?.

Answer 1

You will have to remove the laths as it would probably be too uneven to fix plaster boards to the joists if left. No easy choice here. Could use pine timber TV&G and do it yourself, not easy plastering a ceiling

Answer 2

Kitchen: Well you'd leave the lath if you intended to re-plaster, but I'm sure you are considering plasterboard. I would suggest removing the lathe. With a house this old, perhaps you still have some Knob & Tube type wiring? If so, a great time, after removing lath, to take care of it for as much as you can reach.

Next Room: Well I surmise the ceiling is likely to fail shortly over there as well.

I will have to make some assumptions here, as I don't have the liberty of seeing it... I would get some 8 foot 2x4's and attach them to the next room's ceiling perpendicular to the crack by screwing them into the joists. This is only to bolster the ceiling temporarily while you are working on the kitchen and saving money to handle this room. It'll look ugly, but we just don't want it to fall unexpectedly. You could minimize the look by painting the boards to match the ceiling.

Answer 3

Is it your own place?..if not, then its the owners prob, not yours.
Got to make an assumption... you say the loft is sheeted out, is there insulation under the sheet?
The best way is to remove the lathe & plaster ceiling, if needs be bag up any insulation. Replace the ceiling with Taper Edge Plasterboard. Wickes have T.E. plasterboard. The plan here is when you butt the tapers together there is a depression that you run a scrim tape in and using PVA, stick it in place...prevents cracks later. Sadly, there are tapers only on the 'long egdes' of the boards. Ensure your joints are on the joists. To get the boards up, get 3 8ft lengths of frame timber, (Wickes) cut one in half, put one half on the end of the 2 long bits, you have 2 'T' pieces. Between 2 people, slip the end of an 8X4 onto one 'T'slip the other 'T' under, lift & jam up to the ceiling. You can loosen this a little to slide the board into place. Fix with 'Dryline' woodscrews. Carry on for the whole ceiling. Now, the joints. Do the 'squaredge' joints first. Release the board edge from the ceiling, PVA it to the joist, screw back in place. When that has set, remove the screws (board is glued up) set a router to 'cardboard depth' route off the cardboard over the joint area, then get the screws back in.PVA the routed area, then put scrim tape in, (prevents cracks later) let it set, and fill the groove with polyfilla, for sanding later.The taper butt joints are easy, pva the depression, scrim tape, let it set., fill and sand off later. Then, you can fill your screwholes, sand off....and paint. I Cheated and used a coving around the edges, saved so much grief.
Assuming you gathered up your insulation, lift the loft boards & replace.
Time for the pub, I guess........

Answer 4

This happened to me. Remove the lath and de-nail all the joists. Good time to think about what type of lighting layout you want to put up. I used golf ball down lights fitted into new plaster board, it's not that difficult. Fit the plaster board using 50mm zinc nails, cover joints using jointing tape, and skim the ceiling with board Finnish plaster. If you are intending to hang anything from the ceiling, IE clothes dryer etc, then mark the wall where the joists are, this will give you a line to work to when you want to drill into the new ceiling Be aware that you will create a lot of mess and dust when you take down the old ceiling. Good luck

Answer 5

you need to remove the lathes then nail plaster board up then a nother set of sheets ontop be couse it is a kitchen for fire proofing mark on the walls where your joists are so you can nail the sheets then put coving around the joint between the cieling and wall

Answer 6

What you want is minimum work and mess.If you cannot do it yourself, get somebody to batten out , leaving all the existing plaster undisturbed, then fix plaster board board to the battens, this gives you a new cieling, with minimum mess

Answer 7

Rip down the laths and refix new plasterboard. It's not expensive and will give a better job in the long run.

Answer 8

This may help-

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/REPAIRING_LATH_AND_PLASTER.htm