SpiderLath replacing old wood lath in ballon framing
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/14eda2b09ab1b8352be38c64b5014fc0?s=52&d=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.greenbuildingadvisor.com%2Fapp%2Favatars%2F200x200%2Ft.png&r=g)
Is SpiderLath capable of replacing wood lath fully? I am in the process of tearing out plaster and wood lath damage for a renovation and wanted to put a three coat lime based plaster back. The house is balloon framed, so there wont be anything but the SpiderLath and plaster coats in this case. Does anyone have experience doing this or if it is okay? I ask because it seemed like alot of what the spiderlath was being used for was cement based (not lime) and hadnt seen really anything on it being used with interior 3 coat plaster.
Thanks
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
![](https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/app/themes/greenbuildingadvisor/dist/img/modules/detail-library/thumb1.png)
![](https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/app/themes/greenbuildingadvisor/dist/img/modules/detail-library/thumb2.png)
Replies
I've pulled a fair bit of 1950s interior plaster that was installed either on metal mesh over drywall lath or old wood lath. The stuff on metal mesh is solid, the stuff feels almost like a concrete wall.
I don't think drywall lath exists anymore but I don't see why you couldn't use something like cement board as backer.
The interior of my house is definitely just plaster....sans the crappy patch jobs from the previous owner. Few portions that had drywall look awful, plus the reason I am hesitant for the drywall is the humidity in the house and specially the old basement make me worried with drywall. pretty set on plaster for that reason. Just curious if anyone had used the new SpiderLath material with a lime based 3 coat interior plaster setup. It seemed like all of the companies technical information was focused toward portland cement based work.