Advice on plasterboarding a ceiling please

[RogerS]

I think at one stage it was two rooms (this is a 200yr old cottage) and there's an inverted ridge that runs down the centre which is over an inch deep, and is badly cracked.

Rob

Hi Rob...are we talking ground floor or first floor? Is it just the inverted ridge that is cracked?

 

[OldWood]

Hi Roger
Ground floor (of one!), and although the attic is partially floored for storage we rarely go over this section. I've just profiled the inverted ridge and it sticks out fully 1", tapering out over about 18". The ceiling in general is cracked so must be dealt with. One of the headaches is that the room height is 9'.

Rob

 

[RogerS]

Rob..question for you. It's an old propery..isn't the fact that things aren't level part of its' attraction? But I know what you mean!

Most of the cracking will have come from movement over the years, shrinkage in the ceiling joists etc. Old properties usually had them made from elm or oak. More often than not, elm. How much upheaval can you stand? If you really want a flat ceiling then take down the old one, remove the old joists and replace with new. Job done. Unless it's listed....

Is the ceiling painted with...what? Distemper? Limewash? Scrim tape over the cracks, heavy coat of unibond and reskim the lot and live with the ridge.

Problem with retro-fitting battes is knowing where the old ones are..spacing was never that even...to fix the new ones to them.

Or glue/screw plasterboard - in varying layers - to remove most of the unevenness followed by a bonding coat to fill in the gaps then a reskim.

Without seeing it, it's hard to be more precise.

 

[OldWood]

Roger
You're being a bit dramatic - this is Scotland and even 200 years ago the Scots knew how to build rooves and the corresponding ceiling joists/ roof ties. Everything is regularly spaced, the timbers are 8 x 3 pine and there is plenty of wood to screw to. From the lack of evidence of movement in the timbers they were properly dried too.

I take your point about a double layer of plaster board - that might be worth considering though it will mean some mighty long plasterboard screws - 3" available?

Rob

 

[softtop]

Surely it would be easier (and cheaper) to fit battens over the ceiling then a single sheet of plasterboard. When I've done this before I've run the battens at right angles to the existing joists and it doesn't matter if you have to make a few exploratory holes to work out where they are. Then use a long straight edge to get the battens nice and straight (shimming if necessary) before finally screwing the new pasterboard onto the battens and skimming.

 

[OldWood]

Surely it would be easier (and cheaper) to fit battens over the ceiling then a single sheet of plasterboard. When I've done this before I've run the battens at right angles to the existing joists and it doesn't matter if you have to make a few exploratory holes to work out where they are. Then use a long straight edge to get the battens nice and straight (shimming if necessary) before finally screwing the new pasterboard onto the battens and skimming.

Yep, that's my thinking - I don't think I'm going to get long enough plasterboard screws. I think I'll look at hiring an autofeed screwdriver.

Rob

 

[RogerS]

Roger
You're being a bit dramatic - this is Scotland and even 200 years ago the Scots knew how to build rooves and the corresponding ceiling joists/ roof ties. .....

Oim be thinking about us country yokels then in Herefordshire. We'm not got straight edges.

 

[BradNaylor]

I wouldn't even contemplate doing it myself. A good plasterer will do a better job than you can in a quarter of the time. He'll also have all the gear.

Dry lining is one of those jobs which looks so easy until you try it yourself.

 

[jhwbigley]

I wouldn't even contemplate doing it myself. A good plasterer will do a better job than you can in a quarter of the time. He'll also have all the gear.

Dry lining is one of those jobs which looks so easy until you try it yourself.

I've done a fair bit of dry lining, and the plasterer i use trusts me to put the plaster beads on.

With ceilings it taking time to get the first board right, as all the others follow on from it.

The only hard bit was the upstairs

easy when you know how

JH

 

[Doug B]

The only hard bit was the upstairs

JH

That looks a handy space john, did you use tapered boards on the ceiling? i`d have slapped ya for that :lol: :lol:

Bout time ya hung them doors :shock: but it is looking damn fine, roll on the summer ah.

Cheers.

Doug.