Just scraped dried flaky paint off a ceiling, down to the plaster. Half the ceiling came off. What's best now?

I need to know the best, and hopefully least expensive, way to repair. I'm new at plastering, but I do know something about home repair. I really could use an expert opinion as some suggestions say I need to plaster down to the wood lathe. Someone please throw me a lifesaver before I drown. Thank you.Just scraped dried flaky paint off a ceiling, down to the plaster. Half the ceiling came off. What's best now?
Flakey Paint and damaged plaster?


Before you cover it up find out where the water that did


the damage came from.


Two coats of plaster on the lath, thick 'brown' sand %26amp; horsehair


under coat, thin white finish coat is the classical method, but it


takes a lot of skill and people who do it are hard to find nowadays.


Best trim to rafters and install plasterboard. You'll have to


'block it up' so it meets the level of the existing ceiling.Just scraped dried flaky paint off a ceiling, down to the plaster. Half the ceiling came off. What's best now?
when you say wood lathe .it suggest to me that its an old ceiling ..and its in the uk ....however you have a couple of choices ..you can pva over the ceiling and then skim before the pva is fully dry ....or you can overboard the ceiling and skim ..you will need longer galvanized nails for this method ..you will need to locate the joist closest to a wall ..find its centre ..then most joist are set out at 400mm centres (16 inches)..with the plaster ..buy board finish ..its more open (less prone to bubble) put it on in two coats ..first coat is called a laying down coat ..then after approx 10 Min's put on second coat ,,the second coat uses only a third of the plaster as the first coat ..stay calm no need to rush ..you have about an hour and a half before its fully set ..you will need a water brush to splash on water as it sets ...be sparing .....don't forget to tape all joints