Wood to concrete ceiling

[ConcreteCastle]

Hello,
Couldn't see a forum that better suits this question so general seemed like the best bet.

I have bought a concrete house - a solid, 1920s block built one, not a post WW2 prefab - which I am trying to smarten up, and having difficulty with the ceilings. The plaster is rubbish and my plastering skills are not up to a ceiling so my plan was to put up a wooden frame then screw plasterboard to it.

However there seems to be about 1.5" of crumbly plaster on the ceiling before the solid concrete.

I tried concrete screws and they just tear up the plaster, and won't go into the concrete.

Should I just use rawl plugs on really long screws? Or does anyone have any other suggestions for how to fix the wooden studding to the ceiling?

 

[JohnD]

consider engaging a plasterer.

A ceiling usually costs a few £hundred, reducing if you have several done in the same job.

Likely to be quicker and better than your attempts. An experienced local person will probably have done houses like yours before.

You can probably hack the old stuff off with a spade. It will be dusty. It wouldn't hurt to send a sample off for asbestos testing.

 

[ConcreteCastle]

Now that I've decided on plasterboard it seems like a better idea all round.

Cheaper, can have insulation above it and can have recessed lights.

If I can figure out how to fix the wood up there.

 

[Tigercubrider]

What drill do you have?
An sds drill should go through a concrete ceiling- or concrete screws.

Presume you're taking all the old plaster off as suggested above.
If it's crumbly now, you don't want it falling off later

 

[ConcreteCastle]

When I say crumbly it isn't falling off. It's fine undisturbed but goes very flakey when drilled. It's also about an inch thick (really) in places so I'm not that keen on bringing the whole lot down.

Since my first post I have actually got somewhere with a longer and better pilot drill and putting tons of screws in. The ones I put up seem solid enough. Using longer screws I think they have about an inch of bite into solid concrete above so that should be plenty.

Using a 750w SDS so plenty man enough.

Thanks for the help.