benick wrote:
"benick" wrote in message
. ..
"Nate Nagel" wrote in message
...
old expanded metal lath for plaster?
I ASSumed that my house had gypsum lath, but after (finally) fixing
the ceiling in my kitchen I now realize that most of the house is
metal lath and the gypsum that I saw previously was a spot repair.
The reason that I ask is, in several rooms I have cracks in the
ceiling running the length of the room, quite evenly spaced, and
perpendicular to the direction of the joists above. My suspicion is
that it is the "joints" between sections of metal lath. I also am
inclined to "fix" said cracks by shooting drywall screws into the
joists on either side of said cracks, then using mesh tape and
drywall mud to conceal. Sound reasonable? Should I use washers to
help support screws? If so, how to countersink? Buy a Forstner bit
and treat it as disposable?
nate
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Adding screws to a metal lath plaster ceiling will do little if
anything...The joints in the metal lath are over lapped at least 4
inches and secured with SS staples and tied with wire if it was done
properly and I'm assuming it was....Repairing it with joint compound
will only hide it for a while....BTDT....It most likely will come
back...Caulking and paint is how I'ld go or just not worry about
it...Most new metal lath plaster ceilings now have expansion joints on
big ceilings more than 120 square feet , IIRC.....Same for cement
slabs as well ..They WILL crack if there arent any...Plaster over
metal lath is just a 1 inch cement slab on the ceiling...My new slab
under my garage has expansion joints.....Plaster (blue) board is a
whole different animal and doesn't crack..The plaster board is
stronger than the brown coat over metal lath which is why you don't
see metal lath much anymore except for historical renovations ,
commercial jobs and curved surfaces that plaster board won't go
around without breaking..Metal lath is also more time intensive
therefore more costly.....HTH... oops here is the size of metal lath...
Diamond Mesh Lath
Weight per Square Yard
Type Finish Sheet Size Pcs per Bundle Sq. Yards per Bundle
1.75 lbs. Galvanized 27" x 96" 10 20
2.5 lbs. Galvanized 27" x 96" 10 20
3.4 lbs. Galvanized 27" x 96" 10 20
50 bundles per pallet equals 1,000 square yards
Hmm.
I just measured the cracks in the living room, they're almost exactly
16" apart. Did not measure in the upstairs bedroom, but those look similar.
I didn't post the measurement before because a) I hadn't actually stood
on a chair and measured them and b) wanted to see if my theory would
hold up.
Now I'm more puzzled than ever. I will try to snap a pic of the bedroom
ceiling (cracks are more pronounced there) to see if it says anything to
anyone. Odd thing is that these are two different rooms, on two
different levels, on two different sides of the house, with the joists
running opposite directions, and the cracking looks very similar in both
rooms. There's some faults here and there elsewhere throughout the
house, but nothing like this. The living room is not horrible, but we'd
like to repaint, and I don't like doing hack jobs. The bedroom is
borderline unacceptable.
Someone using up some lath scraps back in the day?
nate
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