Fastest ceiling demo (drywall, plaster, and lath) in the west
– Philly, that is, garden twins … plaster and lath
After a weekend dedicated to non-stop renovations, we decided to tear down the kitchen ceiling at 4:43 pm, Sunday, May 8. The demo was complete and tidied up by 9:49 pm.
It all started, really, on Friday night when raking sunlight drew our attention to a scarred seam between drywall and original plaster on the ceiling. Should or shouldn’t that ceiling come down? Plaster and lath removal-fatigue had definitely settled in. Did more plaster really need to be removed? Really? The house was nearly dust free, after all; drywall could be installed over it; snaking the wiring for the new kitchen ceiling through the rafters could work …
Turned out that the seam between original plaster and drywall bulges along the ceiling is along the kitchen wall as well. There may be more plaster removal in the future (sigh).
On Saturday, the topic circulated throughout the day while K8 started tiling the main bathroom floor, CP worked on drywall upstairs, and Theo hauled down more construction debris, stacking it on the front porch. After much hemming and hawing, a decision was made: leave the ceiling alone.
And then Mother Nature provided an extra work day to reconsider our decision: Theo’s Sunday soccer game was called off due to the recent heavy rains. Secretly – ok, not so secretly – CP and Kate were elated – they could sleep in on Sunday and then get back to work on the drywall and tile.
Around 4:30, Kate and Chris took another look at the kitchen ceiling and by 4:43 pm reversed their decision, committing to tearing out the kitchen drywall, plaster, and lath ceiling. The sun was still out, after all, right?
Working at warp speed, CP and K8 sealed up kitchen windows, doors, and openings with plastic and then prepped the area with all of the necessary gear – contractor bags, trash cans, crowbars, work lamps, speaker (must always have speaker on hand), goggles, gloves, masks, ladders, Steve M.’s super tall scaffolding, broom, shovel, and shop vac. Then they got to the work: CP tore down the ceiling and K8 filled up the truck with debris from the kitchen and the front porch. By 9:49 pm, the kitchen ceiling was gone and the lath pile thoroughly replenished.
It was a really dirty way to end the day, especially Mother’s Day, but the work was worth it. Half way through the process, CP exchanged a dust-covered mask for a clean one, but he didn’t spare a minute to clean off his glasses. Happy accident: uncovering more knob and tube wiring meant more ease with he new wiring project (phew!). Come Monday morning, it was time to take another ¾ ton of construction debris to the dump.
Craving more action video? Here’s a link to CP working solo.