![refinish lath and plaster wall refinish lath and plaster wall](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/EWKT0F/english-victorian-period-house-interior-wall-lath-and-plaster-wall-EWKT0F.jpg)
The bones are represented by the framing and structural items, but one needs more than "good bones" to have a human who is worth anything. In reality, when you hear the phase "that house has good bones," it's giving a sense of humanity to a building. North by Northside, Jeff SkrenesNorth by Northside, Jeff Skrenes Before we shook off the propaganda I'm rather certain started with the gypsum board industry, much the same way vinyl window salesman have long peddled the theory that a home's 100+ year old windows should certainly be removed in favor of energy efficient gems that cost a pantload and "should last a good 30 years." Oh, what a bargain.right? When we started to think about our home renovation plans, the initial thoughts that our cracked, bumpy, and crumbling plaster was "too far gone" and the belief that we'd need to "gut every room" entered into our conversations quite frequently. But no need to go back to the studs for this sort of repair unless you need to repair the laths themselves.When we moved into our house we had been indoctrinated by countless television shows and contractor horror stories in dealing with the fragile, crumbling, dusty, and gritty mess that tends to represent old fashioned plaster. I tried a digital stud finder once but it just said everything was a stud. Or, since electrical outlets are usually chased onto studs, you can start from one and work outwards.
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My studs are generally on 12" centres so once you find one you can pretty accurately map out the whole wall. If you want to find the studs poke something thin sideways in between the laths and measure how far it goes before you hit something. If, like me, you struggle to get a decent finish with lime then use a bit of Toupret to make it presentable as per malcolm's suggestion. This needs to go on in quite a thin layer otherwise it will shrink and crack so if the coarse stuff isn't at a very consistent depth build up the fine stuff in multiple goes. The haired stuff gets a strong grip on everything and even repairing a small area can quite significantly reduce the bounce around it. You want to fill to a few mill below the existing surface level, but this is quite hard to gauge when working 'inside' a hole. You might need to do this in a couple of layers to build up the depth. Vacuum out all the loose bits and wet the laths and the surrounding edge thoroughly first. I use ready mixed haired coarse lime to fill most of the depth of the gap. I recently tackled this sort of plaster repair for the first time. Lath doesn't normally fall away from the studs and you notice when it does. I use this stuff: Use that for the cracks too rather than lime. Once it's dry scrape off any loose bits and finish with interior filler. What I tend to do is plaster to level then scrape the surface using a bit of wood or a steel rule resting on the surrounding plaster. Lime plaster has a larger grit size than modern plaster which makes it impossible to get a smooth finish on a small repair. I've been using this as it suits the repairs I'm doing over various surfaces and works on lath: You will probably need 2 or 3 coats to get up to finish level. Lime plaster is better than the stuff you might buy at DIY shops as it is more flexible, but it does tend to be mail order in 25kg bags.
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For a fix you would be best using lime plaster and pressing it into the lath so you get some go through which will hold the plaster to the lath.