Ceiling – How to take down a lath and plaster ceiling

Removing plaster can make tremendous amounts of dust, isolate the area with plastic to cut down on the spread, and get yourself a dust mask and a helmet is a good idea. Cover any cold air returns and heating vents. Once you're prepared, taking plaster walls down is pretty easy, whack it with a hammer to bust a hole, then you can usually get a shovel or pitchfork behind the plaster and it will pull away from the lathe easily as you break the keyway that holds it in. Clean up all the plaster and dust, then go after the lathe with a crowbar and/or hammers; then start cutting the vertical studs with a sawzall.

Double, triple, quadruple check that it's not load-bearing, if the blade is binding when cutting through a stud, there's downward pressure, and even if it's not structurally load bearing, things could've shifted over time above, and taking it out might make things drop or sag.

I agree with answer #1 with the following exception: Do not use longer screws to attach the fixture. Find a suitable box with extensions as needed to make the box opening flush with the ceiling surface. You do not want a gap between the box and fixture the could allow heat and spark from a fault in the box to escape. Here are products that I would use in your situation. These may not be available at home improvement store but are available at electrical suppliers who service contractors.

• For support between studs -- Erico/Caddy TSGB24 or simply use a 2x4

• Box attached to support --4" octogon box

• Two extension boxes as need to bring opening flush -- 4" octogon extension box 2 1/8" deep

This combination gives you a box 5 3/4" deep. Adjust the support on the attic studs to make this flush with ceiling.

Remember that it is important to not leave a gap that could cause a smoldering fire in the voids of the ceiling structure. This is the reason that most electrical codes require that box faces be flush with the finished surface.