Lathe, plaster and mortar soffit repair Information, help and tips on many areas of roofing including trusses, tiling, venting, insulation etc....

[EIRIAN]

Would be grateful of any advise about this. I live in a 1930's house and earlier in the year a 2ft section of the soffit fell away. On inspection I find that the soffit is made of wooden lathe covered with 2 layers. The wooden lathes are sound and it's just the plaster and mortar layers that have fallen off. The first layer (closest to the wooden lathes) appears to be of course plaster with horse hair. The second layer (the exposed finish) appears to be mortar render.

Would be grateful of any advice on how to repair this using modern materials. The rest of the soffits are sound and I don't intend to replace with upvc or smooth superboard.

Does anyone know of a modern plaster that I can use as a substitute for the original horsehair plaster as the first layer ?

Many thanks

[Perry525]

Use British Gypsum "Hardwall" mix it stiff and just push it over the lathes making sure some of it pushes through to provide a key by curling round behind the lathes. Once dry (it dries quite quickly) use "Finish or Multipurpose"

[EIRIAN]

Use British Gypsum "Hardwall" mix it stiff and just push it over the lathes making sure some of it pushes through to provide a key by curling round behind the lathes. Once dry (it dries quite quickly) use "Finish or Multipurpose"

Perry- Many thanks for that. Did suspect Hardwall would be the type to use as on the Australian Gyproc web they state their's is suitable for external use, but not much info about using outside on the British Gypsum site.

[EIRIAN]

Perry, Many thanks, Alan