The dust barrier is up and the first wall is gone.  I love demolition and framing because it always feels like such great progress when the changes are so obvious!  While having the wall gone is good news, the wall removal exposed a problem.  It’s now obvious more demolition will be necessary.

Adjacent ceiling surfaces align so plaster & lath can be retained.

Without the wall I can see how the adjacent wall and ceiling surfaces align.  I had been most concerned about the ceiling not aligning.  I knew the kitchen ceiling was drywall so I expected that it might not align with the ceiling in the expansion area.  I was afraid that I would need to install all new drywall in the expansion area and lifting a full sheet of drywall would have been a bit of a challenge since I’m doing the work myself and don’t have a lift.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover the the kitchen ceiling had been installed over the old wood lath after the plaster had been removed.  Since the existing plaster is about the same thickness as the drywall in the kitchen ceiling, I should be able to use most of the existing ceiling, which appears sound.  I will still need to install some drywall on the ceiling but I won’t need full sheets.  I will need to open up a section of the ceiling about a four foot wide from my new wall back to the plumbing stack to provide access for the new sink vent.  I am also reinforcing the ceiling joists in this area with plywood gussets on each side since these joints are already undersized based on modern day standards at only 7 1/4″.  I don’t want them weakened when the plumber drills them for the vent pipe.

I thought I might also luck out with alignment of the adjacent wall surfaces but this was not the case.  The drywall in the kitchen was installed directly to the studs and doesn’t align with the adjacent plaster and wood lath in the expansion area.  Quite a bit of this plaster is bad anyway so I will need to remove the plaster and lath back to my new wall.  This will also provide an opportunity to improve the insulation in this section and add a vapor barrier.  It may be a bit tricky to selectively remove this plaster and lath only as far back as the new wall without destroying the plaster I want to remain.