2. This way you have a clean slate to hang drywall on. You should remove everything. what we also found is that the chicken wire (and sometimes more closely spaced wire mesh!) Walls and Ceilings - Finding a stud behind wire mesh & plaster - I have a stud-finder that isn't working on a wall that has wire mesh and plaster on top. The stud finder thinks the whole wall is a ... Find the nearest electrical switch or receptacle and remove the cover. On all inside corners, there is either chicken wire or stiff metal lath. I saved most of the wire mesh. Plaster is installed over thin wood strips which is referred to a lath. yds., also used for stucco and open-stud construction. Followed by multiple layers of paint. Behind the plaster walls are narrow strips of wood called lath. ... 2" mesh: 16 gauge wire interwoven with fibrous absorbent paper backing secured by a 17 gauge wire corrugated every 4 3/8" to form a plaster key, in sheets 30 1/2 " x 49", in cartons of 44 sheets, 50 sq. Use a putty knife or scraper to remove any plaster that remains stuck to the walls. Use care in removing the molding if you plan on re-using it in the room. The total thickness of these wall/ceiling can be as thick as 1.5″ total. What is the best way to patch the holes so that they are as close to the original as possible. Normally the wire mesh is attached to the studs in the walls to help hold the plaster up. Expanded Mesh Metal Lath for Plaster Walls & Ceilings. Sure all the wall tiles were down, but I now had to demo out the stuff behind them to get down to the studs (and cinder blocks, I soon discovered)- which mainly consisted of a few inches of serious mortar with that maniacal metal-mesh sheeting nailed to the studs behind it. Pry the molding away from the wall with a crowbar. Be careful not to damage the walls as you scrape off the plaster. Step 6 - Remove the Plaster Base. When throwing the wall debris away, be sure to gently place it in a trash bin, as to … The final coat is a 1/8″ of eggshell or venetian plaster. Removing plaster from walls is not a difficult job but is time consuming and messy. This layer is hard like stucco. If I flatten out the wire mesh, can I mud over it in a few coats and have a patch that won’t crack? When we started taking it down, we were shocked to find that the ceiling is plaster over drywall. Expanded wire mesh plaster wall repair I need to drill some 1-1/2" - 2" holes in an older home that has expanded wire mesh and plaster (cement plaster) walls. Behind where the walls originally intersected are 1x6’s. We removed a half wall and closet in our 1950s ranch. All the inside corners had wire mesh. We recently went to remove the popcorn ceiling and came to realize just how bad the ceiling in the living room was. 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