Anything goes in The Snug, General Discussion's rebellious little brother. An off-topic den of iniquity where any subject not covered elsewhere may be discussed. Well, anything except golf, Star Wars and Arsenal.
Johnny Byrne's Boots wrote: ↑Sat Nov 12, 2022 5:53 pm
Yesterday our bedroom had a lath and plaster ceiling. Today it has a lath ceiling. Mid morning there was a terrific crash from upstairs, about half the plaster had fallen off and was covering everything, including the pillows where we had been sleeping not too many hours previously.
From my very little knowledge about such things, it looked like the plaster hadn't been forced through the laths to form some sort of retaining projection, just laid on about three quarters of an inch thick presumably relying on pure adhesion with a skim of smoother stuff over it, and after almost a hundred years gravity finally won.
I was astonished at how heavy it is as I made a couple of trips to the tip (that's builder's rubble mate, eight quid. Times two). Mrs. Boots and I had a narrow escape, that weight of plaster falling on us could and would have caused nasty injuries.
I'll have a read of our house insurance tomorrow but I'm not holding out much hope. One thing's certain; the new ceiling will be plasterboard, or at least it won't be plaster.
Glad you are okay.
The old lath and plaster ceilings are notorious for this. Might be worth checking your insurance just in case it was caused by a leak instead of old age... :arry:
I plasterboardered over lath & plaster in a couple of rooms a few years ago. It was one of the most physically demanding things I've ever done, fortunately I was just helping my mate, who's a superb plasterer, but f*ck me, that was a hard bit of graft, that. Looks the absolute business, though.
I guess you'll know where the joists are if everything's come down, but make sure you get a laser so you know where to put the screws in once the boards are offered up. Ask me how I know that...
It won't be me doing it. That's if any of the builders who promise to call me back/come round for a look will do what ninety percent of them I've dealt with have failed to do and actually turn up.
Samba wrote: ↑Fri Nov 11, 2022 8:13 pm
Mine too. Trying to find a replacement is proving to be more difficult than I would have ever imagined..
Oh it's a massive pain, I've just got one which now matches but annoyingly is a touch smaller so I know when I get round to putting it on I'll probably have some touching up to do on the door.
Johnny Byrne's Boots wrote: ↑Sat Nov 12, 2022 5:53 pm
Yesterday our bedroom had a lath and plaster ceiling. Today it has a lath ceiling. Mid morning there was a terrific crash from upstairs, about half the plaster had fallen off and was covering everything, including the pillows where we had been sleeping not too many hours previously.
From my very little knowledge about such things, it looked like the plaster hadn't been forced through the laths to form some sort of retaining projection, just laid on about three quarters of an inch thick presumably relying on pure adhesion with a skim of smoother stuff over it, and after almost a hundred years gravity finally won.
I was astonished at how heavy it is as I made a couple of trips to the tip (that's builder's rubble mate, eight quid. Times two). Mrs. Boots and I had a narrow escape, that weight of plaster falling on us could and would have caused nasty injuries.
I'll have a read of our house insurance tomorrow but I'm not holding out much hope. One thing's certain; the new ceiling will be plasterboard, or at least it won't be plaster.
Ouch! I've pulled a few ceiling down in my time working on the building trade years ago and believe me, the dust will be horrendous when the rest has to come down. You'll be sweeping and hoovering for months and it'll get everywhere. I'd advise you remove EVERYTHING out of the room, open all the windows and if you can, seal the doorway. The "cement" used on these is actually just sand and lime mixed with horse hair (which supposedly provides extra bonding and prevent cracking and shrinkage).
Word of advice if you want to save some money, do the plaster boarding yourself. Pretty easy with two people, I plasterboarded my studio on my own for the most part, just needed help with the ceilings as I was using acoustic plasterboard which weighs an 'effin ton! I had my studio plastered (walls and all) for £350. He did a cracking job. Oh it'll take a week to dry, leave the radiators on but not too hot otherwise it'll dry too quickly and crack. Don't paint the plaster until it's fully dry EVERYWHERE, otherwise your paint will just peel off. Use a plaster primer coat first, then emulsion.
Thanks GCRO. I'll definitely be paying someone to do the job, doing my bit for the economy
The stuff that fell down had no horsehair or hair of any description, just what looked like crumbly mortar. A slab of it say a foot long held horizontally would break under its own weight, which is quite considerable. Because the house is three floors, there's a void rather than a filthy loft above it so it wasn't too bad on the cleaning up front. A pair of gardening giant hands followed by a Dyson Animal and a Vax Henry lookalike did a decent job.
The best news is I had a few guitars on display in the room on the floor and when I pulled the debris off them there wasn't a scratch on any of them! I was astonished. I was especially terrified about the Epiphone Les Paul Junior and the fifty year old plus EKO accoustic but they survived unmarked as did the rest
A dead rat in the house (again) that I can't find and probably won't be able to get to without smashing walls down with a sledgehammer or pulling up carpets and floorboards.
Burnley Hammer wrote: ↑Sun Nov 13, 2022 9:14 pm
A dead rat in the house (again) that I can't find and probably won't be able to get to without smashing walls down with a sledgehammer or pulling up carpets and floorboards.
Doesn't so much irritate me as it does bemuse me since I've no skin in this game, but: My street is a long sort-of dogleg with a tiny sharp left at the top which ends in a hammerhead which fits maybe eight cars. At that hammerhead is my daughter's primary school (well, the entrances to the nursery and years 1 & 2 anyway). Now, at 8.30am when everyone is going into school, my street is pretty much empty of cars. Outside my own maisonnette block, only one minute walk from the school (I literally leave my house at 8.29am to have my girl in nursery for 8.30am), there are ten empty car park spaces. That's outside my block alone, and that's the case more-or-less all the way down the street at that time of the morning.
So where do you suppose every single parent driving to that school tries to park? Yup, in that 8-car hammerhead.
My entire street is a utopia of empty spaces and, even at the furthest end, they're only maybe five minutes' walk from the school gates. And yet, car after car after car piles into that tiny hammerhead, creating Gordian Knot-level snarl-ups, day after day after day. Every one of them driving past dozens upon dozens of spaces, just to get as near to the gates as possible, turning that hammerhead into one of those irritating tile puzzles every time.
Greatest Cockney Rip Off wrote: ↑Sun Nov 13, 2022 3:06 pm
Ouch! I've pulled a few ceiling down in my time working on the building trade years ago and believe me.....
Looking to do something similar on our stairs, it’s not lathe and plaster, but expanded mesh and plaster.
To me it just looks old fashioned as they have got unnecessary curves and sh*t and I'm sure that you could improve on the ceiling height if it was redone.
Also means I can't fit any lighting on the stairs as the stuff it just way too difficult to work with (hole-saws don't work well with the stuff, the fact there's no straight edges means it is difficult to plumb a line for the lights to be nice and even and the mesh means fishing cables over the top of the stuff, or stitching cables becomes a nightmare), so was planning on tearing it down and refitting with boards.
Be a case of buying up the gear and giving it a bash next spring.
Hummer_I_mean_Hammer wrote: ↑Mon Nov 14, 2022 9:44 am
Looking to do something similar on our stairs, it’s not lathe and plaster, but expanded mesh and plaster.
To me it just looks old fashioned as they have got unnecessary curves and sh*t and I'm sure that you could improve on the ceiling height if it was redone.
Also means I can't fit any lighting on the stairs as the stuff it just way too difficult to work with (hole-saws don't work well with the stuff, the fact there's no straight edges means it is difficult to plumb a line for the lights to be nice and even and the mesh means fishing cables over the top of the stuff, or stitching cables becomes a nightmare), so was planning on tearing it down and refitting with boards.
Be a case of buying up the gear and giving it a bash next spring.
There must have been a reason they've done it like that, possibly wiring or something else. Worth cutting a big enough hole first just to make sure. If there's something that'll prevent you from pulling the whole lot down it'd be best to check first rather than pull the whole lot down and then find out you have to replace the lot in the exact same manner. If it was done purely for aesthetic reasons then you'll be fine.
Tradesmen and women that are unable to turn up for an appointment or return a call or text message. Just turn the work down, IDGAF, but stop wasting my time.
dasnutnock3 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 12, 2022 8:23 pm
I plasterboardered over lath & plaster in a couple of rooms a few years ago.
That's exactly what the plasterer I used years ago did.
He showed me the scars on his head from past attempts to pull it down. He said if you do it, it basically starts to "run" and in most cases, you run like f**k to get out of the room!
Eggs'n'nuts wrote: ↑Mon Nov 14, 2022 3:52 pm
That's exactly what the plasterer I used years ago did.
He showed me the scars on his head from past attempts to pull it down. He said if you do it, it basically starts to "run" and in most cases, you run like f**k to get out of the room!
We used to knock a bit out of one end and stick a long length of 4x2 or 6x2 in and just hang off it and bring it down in sections. The dust is something else and very harsh on the throat and eyes due to the lime in the mortar mix.
