Lath And Plaster Ceiling
The old way of doing this was by using plaster washers which are a larger wash the is screwed through the face of the plaster into the lath to mechanically support the plaster.
Lath and plaster ceiling. Steps for patching a plaster and lathe ceiling. When originally installed wood lathe was nailed to the ceiling joists. Lath and plaster is a process used to finish interior walls and ceiling.
Plaster mixed with horsehair or goat hair was then forced onto the lathe forming a key that holds it to the lathe. Lath and plaster is more contour friendly than rigid drywall panels. A cross section of a lath and plaster ceiling is shown to the right.
If enough of them snap off the weight cannot be supported and the ceiling collapses. The plaster was traditionally applied to the laths in three lime putty layers. Lath and plaster is a building process used to finish mainly interior dividing walls and ceilings.
Lath is the name for the narrow boards of varying widths that are fixed to the timbers inside your walls. This makes it easier to create custom curves and arches in walls and ceilings. Besides the normal wear and tear of living plaster and lath ceilings are at the mercy of gravity and they can take only so many water leaks and structural movements before they pull away from the framing.
Lath and plaster and how it usually fails when a ceiling fails completely the lime mortar or plasterwork separates from the laths and drops down. This creates a horizontal working surface that allows the plaster to bind to it to give your walls a lasting surface. A sound ish lath and plaster ceilings appearance can be improved greatly by the use of a good quality thick lining paper.
In canada and the united states the laths were generally sawn but in the united kingdom and its colonies riven or split hardwood laths of random lengths and sizes were often us. The laths are thin strips of wood typically about 25mm by 6mm 1 by 1 4 inch nailed to the underside of the timber joists with a gap of about 6mm 1 4 inch between each lath. Effectively this means that the plasterwork is hanging underneath the laths virtually unsupported.