Whats the best way to remove plaster walls?

On topic...

No one has talked about the elephant in the room... plaster frequently has asbestos in it. 

It should be demoed wet, with dust masks and good mechanical ventilation. 

The trick to loose fill insulation is to suck it out of the wall with a shop vac. 

The trick to controlling the dust is to clean continuously. Don't take a sledge hammer and smash it into pikes of crap that you climb on and destroy the floors, etc. Take out a little, clean a little. Rinse repeat. The broom and shop vac should be right at your side while you are removing. 

I'd just like to chime in for cleanup, use a water trap(vacuum bong? whatever it's called) on the shop vac.

This will stop a lot of the bad stuff from getting out into the air, and I find tossing buckets out much easier and cleaner than dumping a vacuum into a bag.

Keith Tanner said:

If a nail breaks off, just hit it with a hammer and drive it into the wood :)

I know that the framing under our old plaster lath walls was good enough for drywall, so that may vary. "drywall over log cabin" is my new favorite construction technique descriptor.

 

"Drywall over log cabin" is being generous.  When a home pre-dates the War of Northern Aggression, it's often had a whole lot of previous owners (most of whom are long dead) who had the opportunity to perform any number of Crimes against Common Sense and Carpentry.  I used to live in (and now rent out) a "newer" home, built in the 1930's.  The wall framing there is much more consistent and less likely to be confused with something a drunken farmer might toss up hastily as winter was bearing down on him and his claim shanty wasn't looking like it would make it through the impending snows.  So it takes drywall much better, and without sistering in new lumber.  

The outside of our current house is likewise "vinyl siding over log cabin".  

Many times I have had to use a chain saw to perform home repairs.  

I have seen plumbing used as a structural member.  

I have found formerly-living creatures in walls and ceilings.  Many of them very formerly living.  

I have found newspapers printed before I was born, used as insulation.  

I have seen 4 generations of plumbing coexisting in the same system.  

And yes, buy stock in dust masks.  Good ones.  

There was no need for framing to be uniform when the standard finish wall material (plaster) was installed wet and was nearly an inch thick on both sides. 

It was really easy to smooth a plaster wall with basic hand tools no matter how crooked the studs, and really difficult to make uniform studs. 

There isn't anything wrong with crooked studs, they are just not a good substrate for drywall. 

To the original question:

Pretty sure George Washington slept in my house.   I tried to score sections with a chisel, then pry bar.  Take out in sections.  Use good garbage bags.  Quality plastic drop cloths on everything not associated with the demo.  Sawzall the lathe.  Make sure your  shop vac has a good filter.  Then let her rip.  If you can remove your window, that helps.

SVreX said:

On topic...

No one has talked about the elephant in the room... plaster frequently has asbestos in it. 

It should be demoed wet, with dust masks and good mechanical ventilation. 

The trick to loose fill insulation is to suck it out of the wall with a shop vac. 

The trick to controlling the dust is to clean continuously. Don't take a sledge hammer and smash it into pikes of crap that you climb on and destroy the floors, etc. Take out a little, clean a little. Rinse repeat. The broom and shop vac should be right at your side while you are removing. 

This plaster is from 1897, so i doubt there will be an issue with asbestos. Maybe lead paint, but that should be contained by the wallpaper on top i hope. There are two windows in the room, so i planned opening them both and having a fan in one pointed out. 

SVreX said:

The gypsum sheet products used under plaster for a short time (in the '50's and '60's) is called Gyp Lath. They were thicker than modern materials, and did not come in 4' wide sheets. They were more like 2' wide sheets. They served as BOTH the lathing, AND the plaster brown coat (the thick base coat of plaster). Plasterers only applied a finish coat of plaster to the Gyp Lath.

Not always; my house - built in 1954 so right in the time period you mentioned, which is cool - uses Gyp Lath, but also has a brown coat with metal reinforcement and then a finish coat. Total thickness is over 1". I assume they did it that way since the house was very high end at the time. It's a joy to work on and makes wifi and cell reception difficult.

In reply to dculberson :

This is my experience as well, and the same build year (1954) on the house. I'm pretty sure the Gyp Lath is only 3/8" but the total thickness (Gyp lath + plaster coats) for the finished wall is between 3/4" and 1".

Shotgun

In reply to dculberson :

Correct. Not always. I didn't mean to imply that, I was just describing the standard. 

When I had an addition built on the back of my house, the young builder was very interested in the square nails he found in the walls.

I started tearing out the plaster tonight. I started with an interior wall, nothing noteworthy there, plaster then lath then studs. Then i did an exterior wall. Plaster then lath then furring strips then 12" pine boards. I wasnt expecting that. The whole wall is lined with them.

In reply to gearheadmb :

My house is like this. Built in the late 1940s. wood chips as insulation behind the boards.

I'm dreading the eventual updating of the main floor.

SVreX said:

On topic...

No one has talked about the elephant in the room... plaster frequently has asbestos in it. 

In reply to gearheadmb :

I ran into the same thing when I was installing an exhaust fan in the kitchen.

I must admit, removing plaster is like peeling a sunburn. Super satisfying in a really weird way.

As it turns out removing plaster from the ceiling (10.5 feet high) is less enjoyable.

According to the local dump, everything before 1991 has asbestos in it.

They get absolutely stupid about construction waste around here.

Trans_Maro said:

According to the local dump, everything before 1991 has asbestos in it.

They get absolutely stupid about construction waste around here.

Asbestos, and lead.  Gods above, the lengths they go through around here about asbestos.  One guy around the corner has been trying for years to self-repair his exterior.  Tarpaper wrap around the sill plates, and hanging just above it... asbestos shingle siding.  He can't BY LAW touch the stuff to remove it without extreme measures, but if it falls free, then double-bag it and place it in the trash.

This 1930's dust trap of mine has wood cedar shake, which is nice, but white trim paint, which is serious lead hazard.  Try HEPA vacuuming a garden after scraping a post...  I'll wait.

Trans_Maro said:

According to the local dump, everything before 1991 has asbestos in it.

They get absolutely stupid about construction waste around here.

That’s because Canada produces so much asbestos.  

spitfirebill said:

That’s because Canada produced so much asbestos.  

FTFY 

Canada used to be the world leader in production with the US being their top customer. Not so anymore for either country. 

akamcfly said:

spitfirebill said:

That’s because Canada produced so much asbestos.  

FTFY 

Canada used to be the world leader in production with the US being their top customer. Not so anymore for either country. 

Maybe so, but when Bush l tried a total ban on asbestos, but the Canada baulked so hard it was dropped.  

A quick Google's indicates the last mine in CAnada closed in 2011 and asbestos will be banned there in 2018.  I wish we could do the same.

I can't help with removal, but if you have a wood stove or outside camp fire, lath makes excellent kindling.