Lath & plaster 'Shake Down'

[rinnekoti]

I'm moving into a old terrace in Harrow. The ceiling are old lath and plaster, mostly cracked, when pushed there's movement there and in poor condition. A recommended builder has passed this by me 'I will not knock it down, I'll mesh over and plaster it twice, less messy and it won't come down'.

Looking at the old treads here no one likes pulling down lath & plaster. I looking for the best way of having flat smooth ceilings with downlighters installed too, for the long term. Option of battening on to the joists need to be soo deep, enough for the downlights, loft needs insulation added on top of first floor. So as skimmin2day says cut up to cornice, pull down, 12mm fireboard it and skim, undercoat, 2x paint. :RpS_mellow:

 

[owls]

is this some kind of coded message?

 

[rinnekoti]

No mate....I'm just looking for advise for bad Lath & Plaster ceilings

 

[twitcher]

overboard it

Flynny can do it in less than 30 minutes apparently

 

[Capital spread]

I only overboard when there is little or no movement in the existing lathe. Yes taking the ceilings down is a Sh**** job, but if you are careful the cornice can be left insitu. Once they are down the wiring for the down lighters can be done on the ground floor without taking up any floorboards up.
Never herd of anyone meshing over a lathe ceiling, does he mean EML mesh ?

 

[rinnekoti]

Thanks Capital spread what you say make sense, taking down the old lath & plaster (l&p) on the ground floor ceiling, wiring downlighters then board & skim. I guess you would overboard first floor ceiling, because there is access above through the loft, the loft converstion is another project.

Yes I think the builder means on top of l&l put Eml mesh then skim, but I'm not a plaster and it sounded dodgy!

 

[potatoe]

eml is not necessary and should be a concern if suggested. im not far from harrow. pm if you need it sorted

 

[rinnekoti]

Thanks Guys for your advise...
My builder cut around the cornice, knocked down the the plaster from the lath, boarded over the lath so as to keep the orginal cornice, because of the lath he lifted the floorboards above to wire the downlighters. I'm happy with the results. If you are going to go throught this don't have your boxed furniture in the house as the debri hangs in the air and covers everything...happy plastering :RpS_thumbsup:

 

[henry]

and did your builder skim the ceiling

 

[rinnekoti]

Yes...he skimmed the ceiling, the walls had the layers of old floral wallpaper strpped off, coat of pva & skim, finished with 2 coats of paint.

 

[Curry]

looks good which is lucky as he doesnt have a clue! So the builder him self actually did the plastering, he didnt get a plasterer in to do it?

 

[Nisus]

It's just a word members of the public use for most trades
"we've got the builders in"
I'm sure it was a plasterer that did the job, then again he put downlighters in, hope he was part P registered :-0