When we were planning this project I tried to figure out- can I do it? how long will it take?
To be clear- there are many variables.
- Our plaster is in wooden lath which is fairly easy to remove- if you have a metal mesh it will be much harder
- Because of the location of our septic the dumpster had to be put behind the house- I carried each bag of lath and plaster down the stairs and behind the house. It would have been way easier to use a chute out a window
- Our exterior walls have blown in insulation which I am removing- which is not hard but is really messy and adds to the cleanup time
- I am not young so two hours is about the most I can haul, and four is about the max I can demo- 40 years ago maybe those numbers would double
It takes me about two hours to demo a 20×10 wall, keeping the lath separate. And it’s about another two hours to bag it all up and get it in the dumpster. For a young person with better dumpster access maybe cut that in half.
The other question was can you do it- this is hard work no doubt but it’s mostly just really dirty, dusty, and the hauling can be hard. Removing plaster from the wall (wooden lath) does not take immense strength.
As a friend said, “let the work come to you” – don’t rush it. Stop when you get tired to avoid injury.
See the tools https://oldmissionhome.com/renovation-tools-and-tips/ page for more information
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