Metal Lath

Last weekend brought the surprise of detached lath from the ceiling near the light fixture. During the week, I posted in a few Facebook group asking for advice on how to deal with the missing lath. It seemed that using metal lath for the repair would be the best option. I cut back the plaster a little bit to give me existing laths to attach the metal to. I cut off a piece of the metal lath and then use lath screws to attach it to the lath (drilling holes before screwing to avoid cracking the wood.

Sizing the metal lath before screwing in.

Metal lath screwed into wood lath.

After I get the base coat of plaster, it will need to cure for at least 5 days so there won’t be a chance to plaster the rest of the ceiling. I was planning to plaster all of the walls, but after I check the previous weekend’s repair on the wall, it’s a little too low. Since I’m going to do a top coat, I don’t want to fudge it by trying to fill in the dip in the repair by adding too much plaster. From what I’ve read and learned, you want to do more thin coats rather than trying to knock out everything in one shot. The problem is that another coat will result in a 5 day cure, so I won’t be able to plaster all of the walls. But I resist the urge to rush things and I do the 2nd brown coat on the repair to slowly build it up to the level of the wall.

Ceiling repair with an additional coat on the wall repair from last weekend.

While I’m on a roll mixing up base coat plaster along with repairing ceilings, I take a small detour to the living room outside of the bathroom to do a ceiling repair that has been bugging me. This ceiling was covered with a drop ceiling that hid a bunch of HVAC ductwork. I had that system replaced with a small duct system that has the ducts along the side of the room in soffits. The ceiling is a mess with tons of adhesive and one section is smashed in. The repair here looks easier because I have 2 joists to work with so I can just nail in new lath. I attach new lath and then lay down the scratch coat of plaster.

Condition of the ceiling with smashed lath and plaster.

Cleaning up the damage before attaching the lath.

Replacement lath along with some plaster washers to firm up some loose areas.

Scratch coat.

While the cure time prevents full plastering of the room, I do want to experiment plastering 1 wall because I will be trying a new technique. I am going to try and use Limeworks.us TakCoat product as a baselayer before applying Master of Plaster on top. Also, because the walls are very cracked, I’m going to try using full mesh over the walls. In the past I had used mesh, but only along the cracks. At the Limeworks seminar they suggested using a full sheet of mesh to save time rather than cutting precise pieces of mesh to follow cracks. The TakCoat is supposed to be a good base when stabilizing walls and ceilings. It is a bit stickier or glueier than standard lime plaster. It’s supposed to be mixed to a pudding consistency, but I think I start out with it a little too thick - more in the peanut butter consistency. After putting down a first coat, I use a notched trowel and then embed the mesh. I burnish the mesh with the trowel to cover up the mesh with plaster that oozes through, but in some cases I need to apply a thin coat over to hide most of the mesh. I get the wall covered with TakCoat and mesh and mist for the next few hours as I move on to a last project of repairing the mortise lock on the bathroom door.

Misting the wall before TakCoat.

Notched trowel on TakCoat.

Troweled TakCoat with mesh embedded.

Rest of wall with mesh and TakCoat.

To finish things off, I set up the crockpot to boil some more of the door hardware. In this case it’s a mortise lock with some brass parts. I also try another pass of some hinges that still have some white paint film. For this pass I just use vinegar instead of detergent and baking soda. The vinegar does a good job cleaning up the rust and paint haze, but it does look like it affected the iron hinges a bit more than I expected because they are now a matte finish. I will try reboiling them in linseed oil soap next time to see if that will re-blacken them.

Rusted lock.

Brass with some gunk on it.

Rust broth.

Brass after cleaning.

Cleaned lock internals.