Walls and Ceilings - removing plaster ceiling + adding sheetrock

I recently moved into a house built in 1928. The walls and ceilings of the house are made from plaster over wood lathes.

One of the bedrooms had walls with fake wood paneling and a suspended ceiling which I wanted to remove. So, after removing the paneling and suspended ceiling I was left with plaster walls and a ceiling that looked like it had been used for a shooting range: holes everywhere from where the paneling had been nailed to the wall and holes in the ceiling from the anchors. In addition the ceiling is sagging in parts and there were a couple of fairly large hole repairs that would have to be re-repaired.

I would really like to repair the plaster walls and ceilings but I need this room for a nursery fairly soon and it seems like a long term and very messy project. So it seems the best course is to sheetrock everything, but I have a few questions:

Since the ceiling is sagging, etc, it seems I have no other choice but to remove the plaster from the ceiling completely. If the wood lathes underneath are in good condition is it OK to fasten the sheetrock directly to the lathes, or should I just remove everything and fasten studs to the joists. This home has a flat roof and I don’t think insulation is an issue. What’s the minimum width sheetrock that can be used for a ceiling? The walls are still sturdy so I assume it’s OK to just screw the sheetrock into the lathes?

I'm failry new to this so any suggestions will be appeciated.

Thanks,

Michael

Hello Michael sounds like you've got quite a job in front of you.

You need to locate and mark the stud locations and then use long enough screws to penetrate at least a 1/2" into them when you hang the board. I also suggest using glue as well. The walls can be gone over with 1/4", 3/8" or 1/2'", I'd recommend going with the 1/2". Keep in mind if you overlay the plaster with drywall, trim (baseboards, window & door casing) will most likely have to be removed (carefully) and recut to fit properly.

On that ceiling, is it just the plaster that's sagging? Will it flex back up when pressure is applied? If so I'd remove it all the way to the joists. Other option would be to remove the plaster leave the lath, then go over that with furring at 16" centers running perpendicular to the joists then hang your board. I'd recommend using 5/8" drywall for the ceiling, less likely to sag on you in the future. You can go with 1/2" on 16"centers for a lid, but make sure you screw it off well. Should use 5 screws per joist, one in each recess and 3 evenly spaced in the field of the sheet.

If it's more than just the plaster seperating from the lath that's causing the ceiling to sag, as in a cracked joist, it'll need to be jacked back into place and then sistered to repair it. Take 2 pieces of 2"x6" or 2"x8" (whatever the current joists are) as long as possible and after the joist is jacked back into place, attach them on either side of the damaged joist. You can use screws for this. Use 2-3/4" screws for this. Hope that helps a bit, post back if you still have questions.
:coffee:

Thank your for your recommendations. They were very helpful and removed some of the doubt I had about tackling this project. What sort of glue do you recommend for the walls?

Michael

We've got four rooms like this, some better, some worse. I would second the furring strip suggesting with a little modification. Our drywaller told us to get 1"x4" wood and secure it flat, right over the old plaster and lathe along the length of each joist. (We used 3" screws on two rooms and will probably use 3.25" nails, for speed, on the remaining rooms.) Of course, remove the big hanging down parts that can't be 'sucked back in' to the ceiling with your screws or nails in the furring strips...we only had one area like this and ended up putting some old lathe along one joist to help level the ceiling. And I don't know if all wood lathe is this way, but ours is 4' long and runs perpendicular to the joists, so there's almost no way for them to fail after you've put perpendicular furring strips on them every 16". And since the drywall itself will end up just 3/4" from the plaster, it seems that there's little chance of any future problems with failing plaster. And, now your drywaller has nice fat 4" wide strips that he can't miss.

Just my 2 cents...

I recently had a similar situation. Perhaps your ceilings are stronger then mine were.....

I opted to remove plaster & lathe and we sistered 2x6 's in order to strenghten the ceiling.

We just finished installing sheetrock and there is no noticeable movement in the ceiling. Prior to this project, pushing up on any portion of ceiling resulted in movement of entire ceiling.

One of the most important things I've (finally) learned on this site is
Do It Right The First time.

Good luck with your project