Hi Guys, been a long time since Ive been here but I hope you can help me. I bought a wonderful old house (85 yrs old) in Huntsville Ontario ( where???) As with all old houses, there are issues. Im just about to start to redo both bathrooms and they are done in lath and plaster and covered with a cheesy pink PLASTIC tile ( Im assuming from the 40’s or 50’s)Id like to get rid of the plastic tiles but there is sooooo much glue on the walls I was told it might be easier to just remove the lath and plaster and re-drywall. This would give me a chance to replace some of the knob and tube wiring and fix a leak I found in the shower. So, I have 2 questions. 1. Any thoughts on removing ONLY the glue? Heat gun and scraper? After scraping would it be easier to just cover with 3/8th sheet of drywall? Any recommended technics on removing the lath and plaster ( I know its gonna be a bitch of a job and messy as all get out) But I do have to get to the leaky plumbing.I would appreciate any thoughts
Thanks
Marc
Replies
We had that same stuff on the top half of the wall in our bathroom (the bottom half is really nice white ceramic tile in the field with black bullnose at the edges). I said when we bought the house that that was one of the things I just could not live with. It had to go. So, six years later DW asks "do you want me to pull the plastic tile or refinish the banister?" Silly me, I said "tile". The tiles poped right off and plinked on the floor in the course of an afternoon. Then there was the glue. Ugh. We finally found that the best tool was a wallpaper scraper with a really sharp (fresh) blade. Scrape, scrape, scrape. Took umpteen hours to get it off. Especially hard around the tub/shower surround in those other tight places. Had to have long sleeves, gloves, mask, hat, goggles. Who knows what was in the glue _plus_ if it got on you and you sweat then it was stuck to you. Unfortunately that didn't mean it was water soluable (I tried that).
As we got the glue off we found a really nice etched plaster surface underneath. Unfortunately scraping off the tiles made a huge mess of the plaster and the grooves between them were befouled with glue so there was no way to salvage the etched part. We skim coated the plaster and then painted. It looks pretty good now.
I think if it weren't for the tile on the lower half it would have been quicker and easier to rip out all the lath and plaster and start over -- though drywall sheets don't fit into a bathroom too easy. (We had to do that for the ceiling, from which we removed the second ugliest thing in the house -- a perforated steel suspended ceiling). The plaster up there was not pretty at all.
Good luck.
dc
I know where Huntsville is, not far from here.
If you have so much stuff to do beneath the plaster, you might as well rip it out. A big crowbar and a lot of sweat.
It would be a perfect time of the year to do it now, the air is crisp and not too cold. Seal off the room, get a fan blowing out of a window and rip away.