After we made the decision to remove the ceiling in the bathroom, I made a small hole to investigate what lies beneath the plaster. I had a small suspicion that the current ceiling was the original lath and plaster type, and my suspicion was correct! Lath and plaster is a technique used prior to the 1930s (or so my research tells me), which means this ceiling is over 80 years old! Craaazy. Lath and Plaster ceilings are essentially small bits of wood (laths) nailed onto the joists and then lime plaster is applied over the top.
I researched online first (as always) and the consensus was that people didn’t recommend removing this kind of ceiling unless absolutely necessary. Patch if you can, repair if you will, removing should be an absolute last resort. Why? Because apparently removing this type of ceiling is quite possibly the messiest DIY job imaginable. Or so I read. Well, they weren’t far wrong!!
Beware: DUST.
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Um, yeah. They were kinda right. If you think my camera is just out of focus in the image below, how very wrong you are – this is the thick dust that
Goggles and face masks are an absolute essential for this job! I’m sure we all value our eyes and lungs, so please don’t even attempt to remove without either of these. We use disposable masks, which only cost a pound or so from Screwfix, however, I’m very very tempted to invest in some long-term face masks because we have so much dusty work to do throughout the whole house. Disposable masks also seem really
Back to the ceiling though – I’d seen lots of videos online where people had used shovels to break off the plaster from the laths and push it down. Unfortunately, we don’t have a shovel, so we used hammers and the technique of hitting the hell out of it. It worked pretty well though because the ceiling is pretty much almost plaster-free now.
It took a couple of hours between the two of us and by the end, we were very much aching all over. This was definitely a job building up those muscles! 😉 Ha.
So here’s our progress after the plaster removal…
Part 2 coming soon! (Read here)
2 Comments
We have water damage on our bathroom ceiling from a leak in the roof, it’s holey and bowed and definitely needs replacing! This has made it seem even more daunting! Any advice? We also want to keep the existing bathroom suite, did all of this dust and muck clean up okay eventually? Thank you!
The dust did clean up okay, but we ripped out the carpet, so can’t say whether it would stain tiles or other finished floors. I would probably put a sheet down just in case. We still have the same toilet and sink, so they all scrubbed up fine – and the bath too (we just didn’t keep it!). I would definitely recommend shutting the door and sealing around it with tape/dust sheet before you begin as dust likes to escape through even the smallest of gaps! Good luck, I definitely don’t envy you with this job! x