Remove plaster and lathe or leave it?

Users who are viewing this thread

Nelsonba

Member
Messages
135
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Location
Minnesota
I'm debating whether I should remove a plaster and lathe ceiling in the basement or try to drywall over it. It's in decent shape, but I want to put in several recessed lights. Fishing the wires may prove difficult and I'll have to knock several holes in it anyway. What's your vote and why? The room is about 13' x 28'.
 

Southern Man

DIY Hillbilly
Messages
525
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
North Carolina
I've done both and would rather not demolish plaster again in my entire life. They used to use horse hair to reinforce that stuff. Leave it there, cover it over and it will simply increase your sound attenuation and fire resistance.
 

Jar546

In the Trades
Messages
424
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
USA
Website
www.inspectpa.com
I just did an electrical job that included recessed lighting where the contractor left the plaster in place and I had to work around it and by the time I pulled down and made holes where they were needed, I ended up taking down almost 50% of the ceiling.

Take it down and don't put another layer of remodeling. Do it right the first time.
 

Redwoodvotesoften1

New Member
Messages
76
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Southern Man Showed me how to add layers of newspapers to the outhouse wall to insulate it in the winter... Kinda the same thing as the plaster and lathe... Extra insullation never hurts.
 

spetrucco

DIY Junior Member
Messages
22
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Southeast PA
plaster & lathe

I have been where you are!
I kept the orginal plaster ceilings b/c they were in good condition.
I would keep them.

My advice for the high hats is to save the $60 on the 6" bit and buy a couple of masonary blades for your angle grinder. It makes a hell of a mess ( and you will have to do a little spakling) but its is the only thing I had that would cut the plaster.
-Shawn
 

pmoe

New Member
Messages
25
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Norwood OH
I just did an electrical job that included recessed lighting where the contractor left the plaster in place and I had to work around it and by the time I pulled down and made holes where they were needed, I ended up taking down almost 50% of the ceiling.

Take it down and don't put another layer of remodeling. Do it right the first time.
That's what I would do.

I just tore out a bathroom where a very poor drywall job was done on top of an original plaster and lathe wall. The tape had busted everywhere and I wanted to insulate the room, so I demolished it all. A lot of work, but I feel sure it will be done correctly this time and won't have to be touched again.
 

Statjunk

DIY Senior Member
Messages
540
Reaction score
0
Points
0
It's a terrible job and you'd be surprised what it weighs. Even knowing that and having done it before, I always do things the right way and I would bring her down and put up new.

Also you don't need insulation on your basement ceiling.

Tom
 

GregO

Member
Messages
75
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Virginia
plaster

I'm debating whether I should remove a plaster and lathe ceiling in the basement or try to drywall over it. It's in decent shape, but I want to put in several recessed lights. Fishing the wires may prove difficult and I'll have to knock several holes in it anyway. What's your vote and why? The room is about 13' x 28'.

Remove it all. Yeah it's a mess, but it will allow you to inspect and fix anything that may be hidden and needing attention. Could be a big can of worms, but it's worth it in the long run. Do it once, do it right.
Greg
 

GabeS

Remodel Contractor
Messages
293
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Brooklyn NY
Benefits of taking it down would be to add an extra 3/4" inch height to the ceiling and also to inpect the joists and whatever else is in the ceiling which is a great idea if you are going to spend a lot of money to finish the room. Also as others have said it provides wonderful sound resistance. It would probably take you and another guy not even a day to knock it down, bag it up, and bring the bags outside.

Cons: Lot of rubbish removal, lot of hard work, loss of sound insulation and fire protection, little bit of extra money to remove rubbish(not a lot).

A good electrician with the right fishing tools would only break a few small holes to fish the wires through. Nothing even close to 50% of the ceiling. More like 2-5% of the ceiling would come down.

If it were me, the deciding factor would be that I would want to inpect the joists for damage or termites or whatever. I would take it down if it were my house.
 

Jar546

In the Trades
Messages
424
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
USA
Website
www.inspectpa.com
A good electrician with the right fishing tools would only break a few small holes to fish the wires through. Nothing even close to 50% of the ceiling. More like 2-5% of the ceiling would come down.

I just love how you go to another thread just to dis me. You bad boy. :)

There was no point to your statement because you too are advising the poster to tear down the lathe and plaster just as I did.

Maybe after you have worked in thousands of houses with lathe and plaster, rock lathe and other types you will eventually find out that there are plenty of situations where the paint is the only thing holding the plaster on the ceiling and walking in the room causes it to fall, especially below a bathroom where there was previous water damage. But then again, you are an expert.
 

Basement_Lurker

One who lurks
Messages
664
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
Victoria, BC
Hmm, it's a tough call. As soon as I see L&P my desire is to bash it all to hell; I can't stand the stuff. In my opinion, drywalling over it is a terrible and lazy way to do the job; it just complicates everything down the line in case you have to repair or install anything later on. Not to mention that any imperfections in the L&P cieling might not be apparent now, but when you drywall over it, you will get the imperfections in your boarding. At least if you start from scratch, you can shim out where you need to address any settling in the floor joists.

If it were me, and I peered up into the ceiling cavity and didn't see any insulation up there...that would settle things and I would tear it all down and insulate the ceiling properly and then drywall it. But since you are installing recessed lighting, if you are using proper mounting boxes, it just makes sense to open everything up to give yourself ease of access to install the boxes and run wire properly and to code. And if you did have the ceiling opened up, you could use the opportunity to prewire for voice/data if this is a living area.
 

GabeS

Remodel Contractor
Messages
293
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Brooklyn NY
Jar,

Don't be so full of yourself. I'm simply stating what I think are the pros and cons of leaving it or taking it down. That's what he asked for. I said if it were my house I would take it down to inpect joists and hidden utilities. If he sheetrocks over the plaster it wouldn't matter how loose it was because the sheetrock would hold everything together.

As far as fishing electrical wiring, I still stand by my earlier statement that it is only necessary to break small holes here and there (about 3 to 4 inches in diameter) to fish wiring through. That's with walls and ceilings closed. Nowhere even near 50%. I can't even imagine why you needed to break so much.

If you look at the thread where someone inquired about putting valve on hot water side of water heater I agreed with what you said in my post.

Listen, I call it like it is. Don't see why you are trying to make this personal. Believe me, it's not for me. Am I always right? No. But believe me, I'm right more times than I'm wrong.
 

Frenchie

Jack of all trades
Messages
1,239
Reaction score
0
Points
36
Location
Brooklyn, NY and Fire Island, NY
I also vote for "tough call to make over the internet".

If it's in good shape, it's often a lot easier & just as well to leave it. Make the holes you need, fish the wires, patch... It's definitely do-able, we do it all the time, here - we have a lot of plaster & lathe in NYC. In fact, that's how I learned what I know about electrical - used to do a lot of plaster-repair work for an electrician.

If I ripped out all the plaster & sheetrocked, in every ceiling or wall he needed to fish wires through? A whole lot of 2-3 day jobs would have been month-long jobs. It's a whole extra order of magnitude, really.

This all assumes you know how to patch P&L. Don't imagine you can use a remodel recessed fixture in plaster, the plaster's too thick for the clips to work.


Drywalling over the old plaster can work, and sometimes, it's the best solution. If you have localized damage - say, under a bathroom - but the rest of the ceiling is sound, and it's an occupied space where you don't want to have all that wreckage? The best thing is to remove just the damaged part, shim out the joists/studs to the same level as the sound plaster, and sheetrock over the whole lot with 5/8" drywall. (1/2" is too floppy, will telegraph irregularities too much, & look like crap)

It all depends on the condition of the plaster, really; and that's a judgment call that needs an experienced eye, on-site, can't be done over the 'net.
 

Rocknroj

Member
Messages
56
Reaction score
2
Points
8
Location
Washington
It is a big mess that weighs alot..

I just gutted my small 5 X 8 bathroom.. Lath and plaster gone.. Many bags of debris..A huge dusty mess. At the dump they weighed my load at 900lbs! And that does not unclude the floor, ceiling or fixtures!
 

Alectrician

DIY Senior Member
Messages
688
Reaction score
0
Points
0
It all depends on the condition of the plaster, really; and that's a judgment call that needs an experienced eye, on-site, can't be done over the 'net.




Wait....did someone already say that?
 
Top
Hey, wait a minute.

This is awkward, but...

It looks like you're using an ad blocker. We get it, but (1) terrylove.com can't live without ads, and (2) ad blockers can cause issues with videos and comments. If you'd like to support the site, please allow ads.

If any particular ad is your REASON for blocking ads, please let us know. We might be able to do something about it. Thanks.
I've Disabled AdBlock    No Thanks