Fixing this ceiling hole myself?

[girlinabox]

Good morning everyone,

Hope you can help me out here....

We live in an end terrace house which my partner bought a few years ago, and we are now trying to sort the house out and get it decorated etc.

To be honest a lot of the work done in the house previously looks to have been done by a child, I mean I'm by no means expert at DIY but some of the work is terrible!

Anyway. I have taken some pictures of the dodgy ceiling at the bottom of our stairs....we noticed that it looked a bit cracked and things and when pressing on it we realised just how bad it was...a lot of the plaster cracked and crumbled. I have pulled a lot of it off for the purpose of the pictures and showing you the underneath etc.

I would like some advice as to how best repair this without having to get a professional in, we are quite short of money at the moment.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Burnerman]

Its a bit awkward to see whats above there, but how about taking it down and fixing a piece of plasterboard in its place?
If its loose, it won't go away.
John

 

[kjacko]

deleted

 

[girlinabox]

Its a bit awkward to see whats above there, but how about taking it down and fixing a piece of plasterboard in its place?
If its loose, it won't go away.
John

Hello

Take what down? All of the white plaster or the grey stuff as well?

As it is a gable end it's a really awkward shape. Plus none of the walls or ceilings in this blasted house are straight!

 

[Burnerman]

What is the grey stuff - is it some sort of browning plaster?
Is the grey loose if you press it upwards?
Usually the plaster would be applied to thin timber laths, which in turn would be nailed to studding.....if this was all removed, the new plasterboard is fixed in its place.
Can you give us a photo from a little further back, so we can see it in perspective?
John

 

[girlinabox]

What is the grey stuff - is it some sort of browning plaster?
Is the grey loose if you press it upwards?
Usually the plaster would be applied to thin timber laths, which in turn would be nailed to studding.....if this was all removed, the new plasterboard is fixed in its place.
Can you give us a photo from a little further back, so we can see it in perspective?
John

I'm really not sure what the grey stuff is, but it does move a little when pressed upwards but it isn't coming off as easy as the plaster was. View media item 47496 This final picture is taken from the very bottom of the stairs looking up so the left is part of the kitchen wall and the patch with the grey is obviously above the stairs...

 

[Burnerman]

Ok so we are looking up at the underside of a landing.
If it was mine - and I don't know how easy the access is - I'd want to break through completely to see whats above, and the chances are I'd take the rectangle down and re-board.
Traditional plastering involved putting a thick first coat on - which we used to call browning, and then a thin skim over the top of that - hence the two coats.
John

 

[girlinabox]

Kind of, this is at the very foot of the stairs, there are two of those lower ceilings and then the landing at the very top of the stairs.

Access is fine as it is the very bottom of the stairs, but I'd be a bit worried about taking a job like this on by myself. Do you know if there are any guides on the infor this kind of thing?

Otherwise I will have to call a professional in, but I really wanted to avoid that due to the cost. I know plasterers charge an arm & a leg and you don't know if you're getting a good one until the jobs been done!

 

[Burnerman]

Persumably if you were to remove that damaged rectangle, you would see the timber joists for the floor above.
The new sheet of plasterboard would be screwed to that, using dry lining screws preferably.
The main difficulty is holding the plasterboard in place as the screws are popped in - not the easiest task on your own!
After that, any gaps etc would be made good, but if the place was mine, I'd be attending to any similar damage and then get a plasterer in to skim everything at one go.....the end result would be perfect.
John (The worst plasterer in the world, bar none )

 

[girlinabox]

Persumably if you were to remove that damaged rectangle, you would see the timber joists for the floor above.
The new sheet of plasterboard would be screwed to that, using dry lining screws preferably.
The main difficulty is holding the plasterboard in place as the screws are popped in - not the easiest task on your own!
After that, any gaps etc would be made good, but if the place was mine, I'd be attending to any similar damage and then get a plasterer in to skim everything at one go.....the end result would be perfect.
John (The worst plasterer in the world, bar none )

I'm going to get some quotes I think.....I'm scared that it will cave in on me.

 

[girlinabox]

Just by way of an update, I have had someone in and they have quoted £70-£80 for putting new boarding up so think I'm going to go with that.

Thanks for the help