#Plaster lath wall demo Patch

One downside to lathe and plaster walls is if you get rodents, even small mice they can create a racket moving about inside walls.First, a bit about plaster versus drywall. Not only is outside noise reduced but that from neighboring rooms/apartments. This being said there are plenty of old lathe and plaster buildings here in NYC (we call them pre-war), and one distinct feature is the near tomb silence that comes from 'two brick thick' and lathe and plaster walls. Thus they could be run (in cooler weather) heating up the structure which helped dry plaster walls faster. In homes/buildings with steam/hot water heat often boilers and radiators/convectors would be fitted in and tested before walls were installed.

Drywall doesn't have that problem, so that was that. More so because plaster must/cure dry before rest of work can be completed. Lathe and plaster takes skill,and time to get done right. That was the point of drywall post WWII housing boom required homes go up as quickly (and often cheaply) as possible.Ī guy or guys relatively trained can put up drywall rather quickly thus keep things moving. Quality and durability are neglected for speed and efficiency. Widespread drywall use seems to be a product of mass produced housing- everything needs to be built as cheaply and quickly as possible. i guess I am not cut out to be a plasterer (nor a drywall finisher) It gives me the shivers, kind of like stepping Styrofoam r fingernails on a chalkboard for other people. I cannot stand sanding plaster (or drywall skim coat or mud either for that matter). Any further plastering work will be hired out. Notwithstanding some successful later patches, I am done with that. I painted it so it does not look super horrible, but it really ticks me off when I see it. I successfully made other patches later, but that blob of plaster of Paris is still sitting there laughing at me every time I walk past it. Little jackhammer ting that hooks up to the compressor? Still no. Except nothing would remove that plaster.

#Plaster lath wall demo Patch

Then I gave up and decided i would just remove the patch and start over with the softer material i should have used to begin with. Finally I thought I would take a chisel to it, cut grooves where it was too thick and then sand it down - nope and nope. I wore through disc after disc with the sander. Once plaster of Paris sets up, nothing will smooth it out. i applied it like drywall mud thinking I could just slop it on and then sand it to a nice even finish. My first attempt to patch plaster I used plaster of Paris, what a nightmare. Especially the thin stuff (1/2' or less).

Thus, if you have a stud slightly out of alignment or your lath is uneven or whatever, you just use thinker or thinner rough coat and you end up with nice even walls. That is one benefit to a builder with plaster. Helluva lot more work than sheetrock for sure. I got to demo one of them a couple months ago and it was pretty neat how they'd used material to level the wall(s). Our retirement house in Nebraska still has some of the lath/plaster walls in place.