Plaster Boarding ceiling

[cooperphilip]

In our kitchen we had a plastic ceiling. I have now took that down and there was a artex ceiling below. I plan to plasterboard the ceiling and skim. When I took the plastic ceiling down there is batterens fixed to the artex ceiling into the ceiling joists. My kitchen ceiling is 8 ft wide so I have got the 8 x 4 boards. The battern what are on the ceiling now are fix one in each end to the walls and one in the middle. Is it ok to screw my boards to these as they are or do i need to add more battern ?

Thank you

 

[ColJack]

save yourself some hassle and rip the old ceiling down..

as it stands the battons are not supported enough to hold up a couple of sheets of plasterboard..

 

[gday2uk]

save yourself some hassle and take the battens down and skim over the artex

 

[cooperphilip]

Cant skim over as there is holes in the ceiling. Looks like who ever put the battern's up for the plastic ceiling never had a stud finder so just smashed hole's to feel where the studs was. If I screwed 3 inch screws through the battern's and into the ceiling joist's will this be enough to support the plaster board. Save me making a mess all over the kitchen ripping the ceiling down ?

 

[regsmyth]

It doesn't sound like there are enough battens, and it doesn't sound like the ones there are properly fixed.
The battens should be at 400mm centres, and all edges of the board should be supported.
If you're going to go through the battens into the joists, it doesn't matter if the battens aren't well fixed.
If you're just going to screw into the battens, they need to be well fixed into the joists.
Use proper plasterboard fixings (bugle head and sheradized) - ordinary screws will rust. Not sure if they come 3" long though.

 

[cooperphilip]

The ceiling spa's are at 400mm apart already. What option would be better if any.

1) Screw battern through exsisting plasterboard and into ceiling spa's. Then screw new plasterboard threw battern,exsisting plasterboard and into ceiling spa..

2) Do not use any battern and place new plaster board over exsising artexed plaster board and screw through both board's into ceiling joists.

 

[Symptoms]

save yourself some hassle and take the battens down and repair the holes and skim over the artex

 

[cooperphilip]

There about 20 holes I think it wold probably take longer.

 

[gday2uk]

I suspect most the holes are only hammer size so you can easily tape over these and skim.
If it is only a light artex pattern then take the battens down and just overboard, otherwise you are more or less going to need to frame out the entire ceiling.

 

[cooperphilip]

No I am afraid some of the hole are about 8 inch by 6 inch. When you say over board I am assuming if I go for boarding it as well right ?

 

[diyfromusa]

No I am afraid some of the hole are about 8 inch by 6 inch. When you say over board I am assuming if I go for boarding it as well right ?

If you want a result that is good looking, you'd take down the artex, and take down the battens, and stick up new plasterboards rather than fuss with having old artex stuck under battens that you will have to match up. In the end it will take more time fussing.

One thing to be aware of is that ceiling joists are not necessarilly level. My builder had to shim or plane small bits of joist when putting up the new plasterboards, - but- the result is excellent.

Like the others said, the battens you have up there may have held plastic ceiling but will not likely support plasterboards if you try to overboard (aka stick up new plasterboard on top of old material).