I have an old house, 1921. The chimney is brick and runs from the basement up the main floor and out the roof as per usual. The part of the chimney that runs through the main level comes through the kitchen. It is covered in plaster as all my walls are. I would like to remove this plaster, and expose the brick. I think this might look nice. I could put a glossy clear coat on it to seal it. But my question is, do you think I'll encounter lathe over this brick like you would in a normal wall. And my second question is, if there is lathe, might it have been drilled into the brick therefore making it difficult to remove first off, and then making the brick ugly underneath once it is removed? What do you guys think? Thanks.

I wouldn't think there would be any lathe on brick.

Plasterers of the past wouldn't worry about lathe,when the brick and mortar joints would hold the new plaster.

Try experimenting behind the baseboard,remove a section and the plaster behind it,no lathe,no problem.

Now,on the other hand,the old plaster can cause breathing difficulties,a mask and some kind of dry vac would seen the right way to keep things clean,I can't tell you if the old plaster has any carcinogens in it or not,just be careful.

Now,the old brick will have the plaster adhered to it,and while it dried it penetrated into the mortar and the face of the brick,you might have to sandblast the face to get it clean enough for the type of finish you are looking for.

Good luck in this,it'll be rewarding if you do it.

KBC

:)here should be an air gap between the wall framing and the brick
Usually the wall is framed on the flat side with lath attached
Clean up I would use a wire brush and seal with common masonry sealer:)