Indeed. They’ll want a flat set of clean joists, de-nailed.
Yes, all of this is true and we considered it all, thank you for sharing
I found a lot of the nail heads rusted through when I took my ceilings down. Really wouldn't have wanted to put lime plaster back on. After ripping the laths down and denailing, I took the opportunity to stuff 100mm of loft insulation between the joists and made sure it went right up to the walls. That has helped to reduce the cold spot around the perimeter of the room.It also gives us an opportunity to apply lime plaster in the future future
That’s great @paulc . Could you have added the insulation from the loft though? Or is it difficult to get to it?
Like most lofts, mine is full of
Sharps! Crikey, was the house some kind of drug den or just the usual collection of old nails, screws and copper pipe off-cuts?
God knows!
Then you're wise to have proceeded with what some might consider extreme caution. As I'm sure you know the threats posed by 'sharps' of any sort can be deadly and not just those sharps associated with drug use. My time as an engineer in the now dim and distant tells me that many of the metals associated with such work carry their own dangers, as do some of the materials and substances used alongside them - Tetanus being the least hazardous.
I noticed that in your last photo and that theres a fair amount of variation in the depth around the covings perimeter. Spacers of some kind could be used to help level everything up and I would be guided by the plasterer, but getting some insulation between the plasterboard and the laths would be nigh on impossible and likely wasteful in my view.
For that kind of space I might have recommended something like vermiculite for use from above and after the ceiling has been repaired but.... that might lead to a surprising indoor snow shower for someone in 50 or so years time.
Ah, so that explains why he's not so worried about the laths then, he's going to drop the ceiling.God knows!
We found all sorts and thankfully wearing thick gloves we avoided injury when we didn’t even know. It’s all around and under their insulation too.
The owner was some kind of mechanic engineer and seems he just threw everything around up there. It is bizarre. I find myself cursing a lot and can’t wait to get the loft and this damn ceiling sorted.
Ugh can you tell I’m frustrated.
It’s only because of the mess and i just don’t want to deal with an injury . It’s not worth it especially as we will want to do a loft conversion in a few years anyway
This ceiling was on its last legs, so it’s an expense we have had to make but we did get a bit off the property value due to some of these findings on the surveyor report (all we hadn’t accounted for at the time was the cost of removing the plaster - we got quoted £1000 average for that from reputable plasterers). Hence, why we decided to do it ourselves.
The plasterer said the gap between the cornices and the laths is quite big so he might do somehting to the joists. I’m not sure what exactly, but I think he will still need to bring the plasterboards down a bit further. It will leave a slight gap between the plasterboard and laths so I am thinking of filling it with rockwall or something for additional insulation.
Two layers of 9.5mm plasterboard rather than a single sheet of 12mm would make up the difference. Or you could look at putting up some Marmox type sheets first - These come in different thicknesses and include a thin core of EPS insulation.
Yes, exactly this. But i have no idea what it is. I’ll speak to the plasterer on Monday about it. It believe it will leave a thin air gap though, about 5mm between the plasterboards and the laths.
I’ll report back here!