Cleaning Up Old Plaster

It's basically a sheet of 3/8" plaster board, 1/2" rock lath over that, and then finished with a skim coat of finish plaster.

The questions: How can I cleanly cut through plaster and rock lath without burning up my tools or my house? I have rock lath walls with plaster skimmed across them 1/8" thick. The alternative is repairing each hole with sheetrock cut to size, but I need a way to cut the rock lath cleanly regardless. You also don't need to cut the rock lath at all assuming you're done making holes. I was confused until I found out this stuff is call 'rock lath'. I have no problem just spreading mud or plaster to repair the upper part of the walls, but the lower part would require a plasterer to repair. Nah, he said rock lath.

It's plaster and lathe, but not wooden slats. It's a building technique used in the 50s that is basically like concrete covered in plaster. If you mean plaster and lathe, the cheap ass saw blades from HF work just fine. Can't it be scored, then cracked, then the lathe cut assuming it is wood lathe Not a chance. I've got some holes cut back to the studs, looks like I can shim and sheetrock those.

You can make patches with 5/8" sheetrock you'll cut the patches to fit the holes, not the other way around. Everywhere I chipped the backsplash ripped off the plaster. It's a bitch to cut/drill and should basically be treated like concrete, using all the tools you would for that. I burned up 3 hole saws to cut 1 3" hole one time, and I was taking breaks to keep it from overheating. Can't it be scored, then cracked, then the lathe cut assuming it is wood lathe? I began with EXTREME hatred toward it, but have since learned to not only accept it, but actually prefer it. if you do need to cut/drill it in the future, use tools made for concrete since that's basically what it is. Photos: video is the basic idea, but I made my wood backer pieces MUCH stronger than he did. I also made some substantial holes in the wall ripping out the lower cabinets. I may have been generous with the 3-4 feet It needs to be treated like concrete. I just finished literally this exact same process last week You can do this yourself, and you do not need to cut out the lower part.

This is post-wood lath, pre-sheetrock days.

The uppers came out with a few nail holes aka gouges.

I plan to cut out the lower part of the wall 4' x 8' and shim a piece of sheetrock into place and tape and mud the joint etc.