How To Gut Plaster & Lath Board In A House

Gut houses Wilkes/Barre Scranton PA
Wilkes Barre Interior Demolition

When it comes time to gut the inside of a home or building, there is usually a reason for it. Whether it is due to fire, mold, moisture, or other damage, gutting a house is a tedious job! This article describes the safest and most efficient ways to gut the inside of a house.

WARNING:
Always wear safety masks, gloves, glasses, and other PPE when performing any type of demolition work. Also, plaster may contain asbestos so it is important to have it tested before any work begins.

Gut houses Scranton PA
Plaster & Lath Demolition

Interior Demolition 101

Many people think of demolishing the interior of a house to be a fun, stress relieving chaos. While it is true that you can swing a sledgehammer to knock down walls and doors, there is more safe and efficient ways to do interior demolition.

Remove the Plaster

To start gutting a house with plaster, begin hammering the plaster on the walls with a heavy hammer to crack it up into pieces. After that, get a shovel and run it horizontally along the lath boards to scrape the plaster off.

Haul Out the Lath Board

Once the plaster is off the walls and the lath boards remain, shovel all the plaster into buckets and load it into a dumpster. It is easier to clean up plaster all together then the lath board than all jumbled together (trust us, we found out the hard way). Once the plaster is all cleaned up, get a long prybar and begin taking off the lath boards in 3 foot sections with the bar.

Pull Nails

When most of the lath board is down, go through with a small pry bar, and do the finishing touches such as broken lath boards, door and window trim, and square off the corners.

Once everything has been swept up and loaded into dumpsters, it is a good idea to vacuum everything up in order to eliminate any residual plaster dust.

Typically, it will take a 3 person crew approximately 1.5 days to fully gut, haul out, and perfectly clean up a medium to large room in a normal-sized house. Prepare to get covered in plaster dust, and get a workout hauling the trash cans to the dumpster!

House gut company in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre PA
Interior Demolition Final Result

Hire a pro

If this sounds like a lot of work, consider giving a professional interior demolition company a call. A good demolition company will have their own tools, manpower, dumpsters, and experience. This all means that you, the customer, save money and time and let someone else do all the dirty work!

If you are located in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area or anywhere in Northeast Pennsylvania, consider giving A+ Enterprises Demolition a call! You will be amazed how fast and affordable A+ Enterprises makes interior demolition services.


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