Rock Lath Bulkhead

I'm getting ready to remove a rock lath bulkhead in my kitchen. I have done a little bit of reading which suggests that this is difficult and messy, but I'm hoping that it isn't that bad.

The way I would envision this would be to go across the ceiling and along the wall on the underside with a big nasty concrete chisel in order to separate it from the plaster of which both of these are made. Then I was planning on just using a hammer to bust out chunks. I'm not too concerned with what I leave behind because everything will be covered by the new cabinets which will extend all the way to the ceiling and with the crown molding will stick out past where the bulkhead currently ends. I would really like to avoid using a saw.

I've already drilled holes so I could see inside, which is empty, and that created a lot of little particles about the size of sand, but not much dust. It's basically three boxes each with a 2 x 4 frame.

Any thoughts about how to approach this?

 

With your chisel after you make an initial cut drive the chisel in such a way to slice through the cornerite (expanded metal reinforcement) in the angle of the ceiling and bulkhead. Once that is all cut then make some holes in the side of the bulkhead and start pulling or trying to pull the lath off of the studs. Get most of the lath and plaster off the sides then deconstruct the framing of the bulkhead. Maybe there is lath above that framing and maybe it is open to the attic. If it is open there will be a mess of insulation. Cover well.

 

Just getting started with a proof of concept of this, so I wanted to thank you for the help. It's pretty slow going getting through the wire mesh;there is a header two by four which sits behind it, and I couldn't tell if I was cutting through because it was getting pushed inward. But after that I can take off fairly large pieces. I tthink this is my entire Saturday next weekend.

 

You want to use your chisel to slice left and right along the angle not straight into the angle.