Is this plaster ceiling too far gone to save?

10 years ago

Hey Folks,

We just pulled down the previous-owners' acoustic tile ceiling (don't worry, asbestos test came back clean before we started work!), and found the lovely sight you see here. To be honest, it's pretty much what I was expecting, although there's a 2-3" sag by the chimney that's a bit concerning... wonder if there's a bit of rot there from old leaks? As far as it looks, there's water damage from every single joist running across (24" centers?), which is a bit odd. The plaster near the large cracks has definitely separated from the lath, and is being supported purely by the stringers.

As far as new water damage, the tiles were all clean, and the wood stringers are good too, so I think the ingress of water has been dealt with already (this area is under a flat roof that multiple roofers have said is still in good condition). As far as I can tell there isn't insulation above the plaster, but I'm not sure without ripping some of it down.

So my options are:
1. Get a plasterer to come in and try to fix it. We'll have one in soon anyway because the walls need to be skim coated (they were wallpapered right over the brown coat!)
2. Fur out the stringers to try and make things level, then hang new blueboard or drywall right over the plaster ceiling and skim coat.
3. Take the whole ceiling down, plaster+lath both, repair any joist damage, insulate, install recessed lighting, fur to level, and drywall over the whole shebang.

I'm thinking option 3 is the "right" way to go, and the added insulation will certainly be a welcome addition. Note that we're not going for a historic renovation here, more a modernization/updating while trying to preserve the original charm of the house, so I'm not worried that drywall "doesn't belong" in an old house, as long as it looks nice and holds up!

Thoughts?

This post was edited by Mach57 on Sun, Aug 4, 13 at 1:56

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Comments (6)

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Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
10 years ago
if it was mine #3
maryinthefalls
10 years ago
Just so that you have considered more options, there are other possibilities for a ceiling that would attach to the current wood strips. You could install a tin ceiling of either metal or plastic tiles. There is also the cedar plank look in either wood or acoustical tile. Armstrong makes several higher end acoustical tiles and planks, some of which are actually nice. And the old standby of beadboard paneling.

We have the same situation and ended up painting the existing acoustical planks rather than taking the plaster ceiling down. I didn't want the mess, had no worries about joist damage and didn't want recessed cans in my 1920's colonial revival.

If you're set on recessed cans, option 3 will make your electrician happier.
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Debbie Downer
10 years ago
Well, the cracking looks pretty bad, and it kinda looks like the furring strips may be what's holding it up and keeping it all from falling down.The act of removing the furring strips could leave you with not much plaster left up there to repair. So #1 is out. Unless you can get up there and verify that the plaster is adhered pretty firmly to the lathe aside from the cracking.

Id either go for #2 and call it a day, or #3 but may I ask why does the lathe have to come down?

I tend to be a purist, have done a lot of crack repair on my own ceilings, but ceilings that are too far gone are the one place where drywall imakes sense - its unobtrusive, not so noticeable up there andeasy to install because there's no trim to contend with. Because of this thing called gravity, ceiling plaster does tend to be looser and more of a mess and hence more difficult to repair.
Mach57
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for input, sounds like #3 is the best solution here.

@kashka - pulling the lath will allow me to do three things: repair structure, insulate, and level with much less fuss. The joist attached to the chimney looks pretty sagged, so it likely was never supported properly, or rotted out. Will likely need to sister and/or add a header an joist hanger to properly support. That will make the leveling later much easier, and keep things from going wrong in the future.
weedyacres
10 years ago
Can you not get into the attic to assess the condition of the joists? I'm guessing no because of the flat roof. If that's the case, and especially if you're planning to stay in the house a while, I'd probably take the whole thing down and do the thorough #3 job.
Mach57
Original Author
10 years ago
No attic, just a flat roof where the 2nd floor would be - so without stripping the roof off it would be hard to see what's up there. I would hope that at least the roof surface was repaired when they did the roof - the roofing job itself looked very nice, so hopefully they were thorough.

This post was edited by Mach57 on Sun, Aug 4, 13 at 22:26