Covering Existing Plaster Ceilings – Tricky, Tricky, Tricky

In many of the older homes in the Boston area, plaster and lathe (thin pieces of wood) was the preferred method to put up walls and ceilings. If you’ve ever seen this in place you know how it works.

A series of lathe was nailed to the wall studs and ceiling joists. On top of that went a scratch coat of plaster. This was often reinforced with horse hair – hence the name “horse hair plaster.” This layer of plaster stayed attached to the walls by oozing through the spaces between the lathe strips and hardening. The final coat bonded to the scratch coat and – voila – you have a wall.

Fast forward 100 years. In many cases the plaster that holds on to the lathe has become weakened. Age, vibration, and previous construction can all be the cause. Where this happens the plaster starts to loosen from the lathe. On walls, this is a relatively minor problem. On ceilings it can become a big concern.

When this happens you have two options:

1) Tear down the plaster and lathe and put up a new drywall ceiling, or
2) Go over the existing ceiling with a new layer of drywall.

Both methods have their pluses and minuses.

Tearing down the existing ceiling is messy and dusty. The room has to be cleared, the mess cleaned up and new drywall installed. The good thing is that once the ceiling is in place, you'll know what it’s connected to and you won't have to worry about it again.

Going over the existing ceiling is easier and quicker. It is less messy and can lead to good looking results. The bad news is that if you do it wrong, the new drywall isn’t properly connected to the framing and can start to pull the ceiling down.

Next post – what happens when covering the ceiling goes wrong.