How to Patch a Plaster and Lath Ceiling | Ask This Old House

[Music] and what you have here is an old plaster and lath ceiling and the plaster is actually mixed with hussain sometimes goat here and that holds the plaster together the lath up there is placed with nails and there's a space between the lads so when they take the plaster that's mixed up and it's wet they actually force it onto the lath and then the plaster goes up through the lads and actually forms a key holding it to the lab so what happens over time because of vibrations people walking in the house moving trucks going by kids plane can actually cause the plaster to crack and break away that connection so what happens is it falls out we have a lot of those activities around here so that would make sense all right well we can fix this problem and there's a couple of different ways that we could fix it we could cut out a big section and install a three-eighths thick sheet because we want to match the thickness of the plaster that's sounds very messy it can be because this plaster is dry and it's very messy and create a lot of dust oh sure all right so what i like to do is try a first option reattaching the plaster to the left i think that sounds like a great option all right let's get started all right jessica this could be a little messy so we've covered your flow with a drop cloth we've covered the wall to protect that i brought in a couple of pieces of scaffolding so we can stand on it don't have to go up and down a ladder make it a lot easier great now what i need to do is i actually need to push the plaster back into place to do that i'm going to use a piece of wood as a clamp i'm going to screw it into some structure and hopefully that will push it back up hopefully all right now just a little bit on that side now i'm going to do the other end i'm using three inch screws to attach the one by three strapping to the structure above the plaster ceiling get another piece [Music] all right a strapping is up in place and it's doing the heavy lifting but now what i want to do is start screwing some of this plaster right here hopefully we'll be able to push this up with some drywall screws but if i use just a drywall screw the head is very small so when i go through the plaster it will break through it so i'm going to add a washer to the drywall screw now these washers are designed for this type of work there's actually little holes in them so when we go over this with our plaster and a joint compound it will actually stick to the washer okay that makes sense all right so here we go [Music] all right now what i want to do is take the strap and down to see how the screws and washers held up okay so now let's see what's going on here now the plaster rings are holding some of the plaster back in place you can see here that there's a veneer coat this veneer coat is over the base coat all right now right here some of the base coat is really loose and you can actually see the hair in the plaster you can actually see the lads this section right here isn't worth saving so we'll put a small piece of drywall in here all right as you can see we weren't able to save all of the plaster but we were able to save around the perimeter using those plaster rings and screws so i cut out the center section that crumbled away it's a lot easier to cut the hole to fit the patch and cut the patch to fit the hole and the patch is made of 3 8 drywall the thickness of the plaster on the ceiling perfect i'll attach it with some inches 5 8 drywall screws all right that's good on this section now we have the same issue over here patches a little bit bigger but let's attack it the same way [Music] all right now we're able to pull the plaster up using these three pieces of strap in right here because i was able to screw that strap in into the structure above the lath there isn't any structure right here so what i need to do is push this part of the plaster up to do that i've screwed a piece of strap in to the ones that are into the ceiling now i'm going to take a filler strip put it in here like that another one over here and now when i tighten up these screws it should pull the plaster up [Applause] it's looking pretty good tom i'm hopeful yeah me too so now what i want to do is i want to try it with some washes hopefully it won't break apart nice nice nice nice this is all looking pretty good it's tightening up nicely a couple more screws and washers and then we'll peel away this veneer and we're in business i don't want to drive the screw and wash it home right away i want to gently put it in place bringing the plaster up so i tighten it up a little i may pop over to the one beside it bring that in a little more go back to the one i started with bring that in a little more until i have them seated nicely and the plaster's in place now i'm just scraping away all the loose veneer before we install the new plaster because we're plastering over an existing ceiling i want the new plastic to adhere to it really good so i'm going to mix some joint compound with the veneer plaster and it will stick really well okay you ready now if you want to hold the bucket on an angle like that and i'll take the plaster out absolutely [Music] now this is our base coat and to keep the base coat from cracking where all of the voids and joints and screws are i'm actually going to cover the whole thing with this fiberglass screening wire it's the same thing that you would use on a window or a door to keep the bugs up excellent so we won't see any more cracking nope not here anyway [Music] after about 45 minutes the base coat sets up i apply a second and final coat to the ceiling making sure to fill in all the boards [Music] to finish off the job i use a felt pad to blend in the high spots and smooth out the ceiling all right jessica we're all cleaned up what do you think i think it looks fantastic [Music]

Channel: This Old House

Views: 769,678

Keywords: this old house, how-to, home improvement, Episode, TV Show, DIY, ask this old house, tom silva, ceiling, patch, repair, 7-10 minutes, plaster, latheThis Old House, Ask This Old House, Home Improvement, DIY Ideas, Renovation, Renovation Ideas, How To Fix, How To Install, How To Build, Kevin o’connor, kevin o'connor house, kevin o'connor this old house, kevin o'connor ask this old house, kevin o'connor interview

Id: i5mdg4gH1Ko

Length: 7min 58sec (478 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 19 2018