Zipadee Doodar wrote:
Greetings.



My loft hatch is right at the top of the stairs, and so for safety, I intend
to open a new hatch further along the landing. I am OK with supporting,
cutting out and reinstating the joist in the loft, but need advice regarding
cutting the lath and plaster ceiling to give a reasonable clean line, and
without bringing chunks down all around. I know architrave will cover minor
rough edges, but to make it more complicated, the ceiling is covered in
artex so I want to avoid having to reinstate as much as possible.

You could cut through the plaster layer with an angle grinder with a
masonry blade (preferably diamond - they're cheap enough). You could
even cut through the laths with this too but it'll kick up a smell of
charring wood (to go with the clouds of plaster dust :-)