Repair or replace old ceiling?

[bullethead123]

Hi all, the plaster on the ceiling in my living room has seperated from the lath. What's my best option? I guess it could be repaired but maybe getting a firm to board and plaster may be the way to go. If so, what should I be paying and are there any specific things I should know before hiring a plasterer?
The house is in Sutton, South London, was built in 1890 and I guess the plaster is original. The ceiling measures 3m20 by 3m60.

 

[RandomGrinch]

maybe getting a firm to board and plaster may be the way to go.

Overboarding is the way I would go.
I'm sorry, I can't help with a cost as I've DIY'ed mine.
I will say, if your ceiling is original and you have some nice decorative coving - you only need to overboard the centre section, leaving a small shadow gap to the coving.
Edge beading like this can then be used by the plasterer for a neat finish...

 

[HawkEye244]

Overboarding is the way I would go.
I'm sorry, I can't help with a cost as I've DIY'ed mine.
I will say, if your ceiling is original and you have some nice decorative coving - you only need to overboard the centre section, leaving a small shadow gap to the coving.
Edge beading like this can then be used by the plasterer for a neat finish...

View attachment 309557

How would you personally over-board a ceiling that is completely wonky and wavy ? It feels like the best thing to do in these circumstances is take down what's there first and reboard to the joist work

 

[bullethead123]

Just hired a guy to remove the blown plaster, pack out from the lath to the level of the original plaster, overboard that and apply 2 coats of plaster.
He's gonna do that, overboard and plaster another (artexed) ceiling upstairs and the same for the ceiling of the understairs cupboard for £750. He starts Wednesday.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

The plaster might be wonky (because the line plaster has partially detached from the laths), but the laths and joists above the plaster should be reasonably flat, and the plaster boards will span the "hills and valleys" to flatten the ceiling out quite a bit

 

[HawkEye244]

Just hired a guy to remove the blown plaster, pack out from the lath to the level of the original plaster, overboard that and apply 2 coats of plaster.
He's gonna do that, overboard and plaster another (artexed) ceiling upstairs and the same for the ceiling of the understairs cupboard for £750. He starts Wednesday.

The trouble is with overboarding you still have to make protrusions to find the joists. That's if you can find them without knocking exploration holes, which defeats the purpose of overboarding in the first place. Or he's going straight into the laths without bothering to find joists

 

[bullethead123]

Guy told me he'd find the joists. Half the plaster will be off the ceiling anyway so surely he'll just draw a straight line from the exposed lath to find the centres of the joists which are covered in plaster no?

 

[Deleted member 174758]

The trouble is with overboarding you still have to make protrusions to find the joists. That's if you can find them without knocking exploration holes, which defeats the purpose of overboarding in the first place. Or he's going straight into the laths without bothering to find joists

You can often find the joists with little more than a neodymium magnet - there will be a row of steel clouts or tacks fixing the lahs tonthe joists which a strong magnet can often pick up. So often no need to knock holes anywhere

 

[HawkEye244]

Good practice but most people will knock holes into asbestos artex to find joists to fit to exposing the asbestos and defeating the whole purpose of boarding in the first place. May as well just apply a layer of bonding cost to the artex itself which fills in the low spots, and multi skim that twice.