I am fairly new at this home repair thing, so pardon my ignorance!; I'm learning (but a quick learner!) I am helping my Mom do some repairs aorund the house that have needed to be done for some time now. The house--at best guesstimate--is about 60 years old. The living room ceiling was 'lowered' some years ago with 12'x12' tiles. the runners were nailed (with incorrect nails) and aligned horribly. The tiles started sagging, falling, etc. and that's where I come in. I removed the tiles and was going to remove the runners (as they too were falling out because of being not fixured correctly) but noticed that in many areas the plaster had either cracked or just fallen itself too. The problem is is that there is no lath that I have been reading about: the plaster was applied directly to the ceiling foundation (which is like a concrete-type material, but gritty.) 1) Is this a normal building technique and have you heard of it? and 2) how do I repair the cracks/missing plaster? Should I/can I replace it? Like I answered Mom, "I have no idea!" Thank You!

I am looking to open up 2 connected walls (they are in an 'L' shape with the longer wall being 7 feet, and the shorter being 3 feet) that separate my kitchen from the living room and dining room. Here is a link to pictures of the wall, with the drywall removed: [url]http://www.echofinace.com/header/default.htm[/url] My intentions are to remove the 4 studs on the 7 foot wall and add a 4x8 header directly under the existing pair of 2x4's at the top of the studs. The 7 foot wall runs perpendicular the ceiling supports ( one story, concrete foundation ). There is a 13 foot span from the adjacent living room wall, and another 9 feet to the outside wall. I know the wall supports the ceiling beams, as they meet above the 7 foot wall in the attic, but the 7 foot wall provides no other visible support to the roof. There is no 'post' where the 2 walls meet at the 'L' - just 1 2x4 on the 3 foot wall, and 2 2x4's on the 7 foot wall. My question is will adding a 4x8 header be sufficient to carry the load of the 4 studs I am replacing. Also, should I replace the 2x4’s on both ends with 4x4’s? I can see on the right of the 7 foot wall, above the doorway is a 4x6 header on the span to the other wall in the kitchen that is doing the same thing as I intend to do. Lastly, do I need another header for the 3 foot wall. Thanks.