Plaster & Lathe

[samuel333]

Does anyone have any suggestions for cutting through a plaster and lathe ceiling while minimizing dust and damage? I've used a reciprocating saw in the past, but there's a lot of dust with those and the saw causes the lathe to vibrate and the plaster around the cut to crack and extend the repair. The hole I have to cut is roughly two feet by three feet.

Thanks!

[Willravel]

I've had a good amount of experience with drywall, but very limited with lath and plaster, so take this advice with a healthy grain of salt.

The first thing you'll want to do is tape along the area you wish to cut with blue tape. The tape won't stop all the dust, but I have to imagine that it could reduce the amount of plaster that breaks off and it could prevent cracking. If it were me, I'd use a rotozip with a strong bit for the plaster, then a saw for the wood. You could duct tape a shop vac to the underside of the rotozip, which could help further reduce the amount of plaster dust assuming you don't have the dust catcher.

Be safe!

[snowy]

We have plaster and lathe walls in our house. I think no matter what you do, there will be cracking and dust. Every project we've done, even drilling holes for anchors, has caused plaster to chip and come off the wall. It's frustrating.

Here's a how-to on cutting a doorway in plaster and lathe from This Old House (we've found them to be an INVALUABLE resource on how-tos for our walls): Cutting a Doorway in a Plaster Wall | Drywall & Plaster | This Old House

[Lindy]

Locate the joists in the area that you are going to cut. Screw (not nail!) 1x2 furring strips to the joists.

Open a window and put a box fan in it blowing to the outside. Still makes a mess, but this will help.

Cut inside your framed area. The 1x2s will hold the ceiling in place outside of your cut lines. Use a sawzall with the shortest blade that you can, which makes it less likely that you will cut wiring or pipes.

Lindy

[iananderson]

The secret is to take the plaster off first, clear up and then cut through the lath and carefully remove. I use a mulitool, to gently cut, say 15mm into the plaster first, this should stop any damage spreading. Obviously this will 'kill' blades, you can keep one specifically for cutting into plaster, it doesn't need to be 'sharp' to work. Use the vacuum attachment to stop a fair bit of the dust. An optional vacuum can be held (by A N Other) close to the blade during the cut to really get the dust.

Once the plasterwork has then been 'piggled' away, you can cut through the laths using the wood blade (in the multitool) or a fine, small handsaw and then carefully lever each lath away individually. De-nail and your done!

Working gently is paramount, any banging or hammering will cause damage. It is perfectly possible to remove plasterwork without wrecking everything!

Good luck!