Recessed lights wood plaster lath

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Greg1707

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Alexandria, VA
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Business owner Electrical contractor
I bid a job installing five inch recessed lights fixtures. I just found out the ceiling is wood lath and plaster. I have a new hole saw with an abrasive an edge. Anyone have any experience with this? I fear that I may not be able to cut a clean hole given the ceiling may be brittle and fragile.
 
Fun stuff.

layout.

drill hole send in bent snake to check for beam.

drill many holes around marked high hat circle.

tap around the circle with screw driver and pliers (to chisel the plaster) to connect the dots and remove plaster.

with fingers, screw driver and or channel locks, hold or stop lath from shaking and bouncing as you connect the dots of the holes you drilled cutting out lathe with a wall board saw.
 
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Greg1707 said:
I bid a job installing five inch recessed lights fixtures. I just found out the ceiling is wood lath and plaster. I have a new hole saw with an abrasive an edge. Anyone have any experience with this? I fear that I may not be able to cut a clean hole given the ceiling may be brittle and fragile.
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Use a dust bowl and go easy on the drill, a tile hole saw works best, enjoy the mess..:lol:
 
Since you found out about the lath and plaster afterwards, are you going to redo your bid?
 
since you have plaster and lath, it should be old enough that lead based paint is an issue that needs attention as well:huh:
 
I have used a Roto-Zip with tile bit and a vacuum held at the ceiling as I cut through the plaster. Then I used a wood bit to finish out the hole. Good luck.
 
Yes, a very messy job, you should inform the customer about possible damage to ceiling (all plaster and lath ceilings are not equal). We used the greenlee adjustable hole saw for the plaster on a job recently and it worked good. Then a dremmel for the wood. We had an attic above so we drilled a hole and I went up and checked for clearance from joists as another post suggested. It took the two of us all day for six cans, maybe a little less but I figured it for all day, had to move some furniture and cover it. A lot longer then if you had sheet rock, so I hope you can up your price. Another thought is some cans come with an over sized ring, might be helpful. Good luck, let us know how it comes out.
 
I always exclude an damage to finished surfaces, ie: sheetrock, plaster, stucco, flooring, even landscaping. Never had it questioned either. I'm very upfront that while we do 100's of can lights a year, sometimes there's a problem, and we're not tapers, plasterers, etc. I always have someone I can recommend for the repairs.
 
I bought some white bucket tops one time and made my own over-oversized rings due to chipped plaster. I cut them out with an adjustable hole cutter. ( don't know the band but it has a handy dust catcher and seals up against the ceiling)
It actually looked good, kind of a stacked trim look. The customer asked where I got the trims. I told them Sherwin Williams........
 
1793 said:
I have used a Roto-Zip with tile bit and a vacuum held at the ceiling as I cut through the plaster. Then I used a wood bit to finish out the hole. Good luck.
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I've done this. I've also just used my pliers and screwdriver to knock out the plaster, then rotizipped the wood.

Now I have a fine/multi-tool that I'd like to try out on something like that. But luckily I know the towns that likely have that situation so I bid appropriately. But when I was young I would just do any damn thing for the business.
 
J.P. said:
I bought some white bucket tops one time and made my own over-oversized rings due to chipped plaster. I cut them out with an adjustable hole cutter. ( don't know the band but it has a handy dust catcher and seals up against the ceiling)
It actually looked good, kind of a stacked trim look. The customer asked where I got the trims. I told them Sherwin Williams........
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Tell the truth. You stole that from somebody?s stand up routine.
 
Sorry....... I really did use the bucket tops.

You know those trim pieces you buy from the box stores that go around ceiling fans? I got the idea from that.

I needed a extra 1/4 of an inch to cover a chip. The led trims don't have any options as far as being oversized.
 
electricguy61 said:
I always exclude an damage to finished surfaces, ie: sheetrock, plaster, stucco, flooring, even landscaping. Never had it questioned either. I'm very upfront that while we do 100's of can lights a year, sometimes there's a problem, and we're not tapers, plasterers, etc. I always have someone I can recommend for the repairs.
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I used to tell people the same thing. I would always say that I can't give you an exact price, because I only make the holes, I don't patch the holes.:happyno:
 
Success

Success

I checked for lead paint today and was relieved to find no evidence.

We used a Milwaukee black hole saw. The saw cut through the plaster and wood lathe and left a smooth clean cut.
Thanks to all.
 
Greg1707 said:
I checked for lead paint today and was relieved to find no evidence.

We used a Milwaukee black hole saw. The saw cut through the plaster and wood lathe and left a smooth clean cut.
Thanks to all.
Click to expand...
Anything older then 1978(ish?) is nearly guaranteed to have lead in the paint that was used.
 
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