Lath & Plaster - Victorian Semi - Bulging/Sag Bdr'm Ceil

[likelex]

We are looking at putting in an offer on a 2 Bed Victorian Semi and had now paid our 2nd visit to the property and have fallen in love with it. Before we put an offer in I thought I'd come on here and ask a few questions that are bugging us. I've had to split them into sections for different sections of the forum so pls feel free to go and look at my other questions!

Brief background to help-
Classic 2 up, 2 Down, no bay at front, front door on the side - steep stairs straight up, small kitchen off the dining room. Upstairs, bedrooms above living room and dining room and bathroom off bedroom 2 above kitchen. Fireplaces in all rooms incl kitch/bath.

There is a saggy/bulging bit of Ceiling in the bedroom which is around dinner plate size on the edge near the wall leading into the bathroom. I looked in the loft and it's all boarded out but just wanted to know if this is common and what the cause would be likely to be? Can a leaky roof/pipe case this? It was bone dry and flaky so much be old whatever the case but just wanted to know. I am sure we will have to replace all the ceilings with plaster board as soon as we get in there..

Cheers
jon

 

[lawlor]

The ceiling in my house fell down well the lime plaster did! It had blown but due to other projects i left it as it was!
Now i might be wrong -often am- but i think the ceiling plaster blown because the loft is now super insulated. and the plaster had dried out totally. The problem with old houses is that they have no doubt been changed many times. modern heating, double glazing, fires blocked up, etc etc all changes the house 'eco system' which can be good or can be bad, fixes one problem and creates another.

Anyway as for the ceiling either rip the plaster down and re-plaster with a lime plaster. which is what i think i might do. or rip it all down including the laths and put plasterboard up. either way not a big job especially if the loft isnt insulated or has anything up there.

 

[likelex]

Thanks for this Lawlor - I didn't actually think of just ripping off plaster and getting it replastered but that is probably gonna cost a bit and is rather time consuming I suppose? I think I'd rather get it all in the skip and board it myself and gets a plasterer to skim it when everything else needs doing. You're right, nothing in the loft, its boarded out but easy to work with and we would want to replace the lame old loft insulation with space age new stuff so a good opportunity to do it all at once (and probably the lighting and ceiling speakers ;-P )

Cheers,

jon

 

[lawlor]

yep boarding will be easiest. Id use s 9mm board at the thickest tho was alot lighter!
Sounds like you have some good plans. Always good when you are starting from scratch!

 

[likelex]

9mm, good to know, thanks for your tips!!

 

[lawlor]

nothing worse up a ladder with heavy plasterboard cordless drill and mouth holding some drywall screws... alway comedy... a lighter board makes it less comical tho....

 

[OwainDIYer]

Don't bother ripping all the old plaster off. You will have 100 years of dirt, dead rats/cats etc, descending.

Put a new piece of plasterboard underneath and screw upwards into the joists.

Sometimes small areas of blown plaster can be repaired by pushing it up to the laths from underneath with a board and applying new wet plaster above. The new plaster readheres the old plaster to the laths.

Be aware there may still be pipes for gas lighting buried in the walls and ceilings - and they might still be live!

 

[lawlor]

Owain surely thats just a bad bodge? best get rid of it all, laths included or repair it properly.

 

[likelex]

A clean start is probably best for us - there is nothing in the house at the moment - no carpets, fixtures/fittings, nothing. we will do all heavy/dirty work first so pulling down ceiling will be doable!

 

[lawlor]

good plan, rip that down plus all you dodgy probably blown plaster from the walls. start fresh with a nice blank canvas! which i had that opportunity! Oh and if you do get a wood burner save the laths... best kindling you will ever get!

 

[OwainDIYer]

Owain surely thats just a bad bodge? best get rid of it all, laths included or repair it properly.

No it's a perfectly valid repair technique.

 

[lawlor]

ah just re-read, i though you ment PB the whole ceiling over the lath and plaster ceiling. My bad.

 

[OwainDIYer]

i thought you ment PB the whole ceiling over the lath and plaster ceiling.

That is actually what I did mean!

 

[lawlor]

each to their own in that case. Jobs like that always annoy me in the future.
Sounds like OP has the time and space to almost Gut the house first which would seem like a good idea.

 

[dhutch]

I think in the case of the OP where the room is empty and undecorated it makes sense to remove and put the plasterboard directly onto the joists, but if it was a useable room, overboarding makes sence.


Daniel