Remove old wall coverings to make room for new.
Removing wallpaper, lath and plaster is a prospect that can prove daunting to many. While it may seem simple to just have at the wall with a sledgehammer or saw, the results can be disastrous, with broken studs, pipes and ripped wires the likely results. Instead, you need to take a layered approach, disassembling the wall by reversing the process used to build it. By removing each layer of wall covering by itself, you can control the demolition process, containing the mess created and avoiding any damage to adjoining areas or the structure of your wall beneath the lath.
Instructions
1. Place a dropcloth along the base of the wall to catch any debris from the wallpaper removal. Put on safety goggles and a face mask to avoid eye irritants and breathing in particulates during the removal process.
2. Peel the wallpaper directly from the wall using a putty knife to loosen one of the top corners of a wallpaper strip. Lift the corner from the wall and peel the wallpaper away from the plaster surface at a 15-degree angle, using a constant pulling motion on the paper to avoid tearing. This works only with peelable wallpaper; other paper types require more intensive removal methods.
3. Remove non-peelable wallpaper from the plaster by perforating the paper with thousands of tiny holes, then soaking the paper with a wallpaper removal solvent. Perforate the wallpaper by running a wallpaper perforating tool across the wallpaper surface. Pour the solvent into a hand-held sprayer and spray the wallpaper with the solvent, wetting it thoroughly. The solvent leaks through the perforations and dissolves the adhesive holding the wallpaper in place, making it easier to remove.
4. Use a wallpaper scraper to scrape the wet paper from the wall, working strip by strip from top to bottom. Allow the plaster wall to dry overnight before continuing.
5. With a utility knife, make a small cut through the plaster running down the corners of the wall where the wall plaster and lath you're removing meets an adjacent wall or ceiling. Look through the cut to determine whether the corner is reinforced with wire mesh. Make a cut along all of the corners of the wall using a reciprocating saw. Place a metal cutting blade into the saw if the wire mesh is present. This cut enables you to remove the plaster from the wall without damaging plaster on the ceiling or adjacent walls you may wish to leave untouched. Cut only through the plaster, taking care not to cut a wall stud or damage wiring or plumbing running through the walls.
6. Knock the plaster from the lath by hitting the plaster on the wall with the sledgehammer. Use only a moderate level of force when hitting the plaster, to avoid breaking the wood lath beneath.
7. Remove the lath after breaking off the plaster by using a claw hammer to pry the lath from the wall studs where it's nailed into place. Pull any wire mesh from the corners using the claw of the hammer as well.
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