Lines of plaster coming away from ceiling

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giskard

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In my upstairs bedrooms there are cracks in the ceilings where the plaster has separated from the underlying plasterboard and looks like it's ready to fall off.

The first two photos are bedroom 1 where the plaster is coming away from the ceiling and is pretty bad:
Lines of plaster coming away from ceiling
Lines of plaster coming away from ceiling

The third photo is bedroom 2 which had the same problem as bedroom 1 but was redecorated over 18 months ago and the cracked/falling plaster removed and filled in, but now shows the early stages where the plaster is starting to come away from the plasterboard:
Lines of plaster coming away from ceiling

Photos 4-6 show bedroom 3 which is as bad, if not worse than bedroom 1:
Lines of plaster coming away from ceiling
Lines of plaster coming away from ceiling

Lines of plaster coming away from ceiling

The last photo shows the landing and early stages of the plaster coming away after being redecorated at the same time as bedroom 2:
Lines of plaster coming away from ceiling


Can anyone suggest why this is happening? The house has some of the loft boarded over and used for storage but I don't believe having stuff in the loft is causing this problem.

Any ideas?

I guess the easiest way to deal with this is to just fix new plasterboard over the existing and reskim and decorate, but the problem with that would be the coving and loft hatch surround, also I'm hoping this can sorted out with as little disruption as possible, so any suggestions from the experts here would be gratefully received :)
 
giskard said:
In my upstairs bedrooms there are cracks in the ceilings where the plaster has separated from the underlying plasterboard and looks like it's ready to fall off.

The first two photos are bedroom 1 where the plaster is coming away from the ceiling and is pretty bad:
View attachment 34913View attachment 34914
The third photo is bedroom 2 which had the same problem as bedroom 1 but was redecorated over 18 months ago and the cracked/falling plaster removed and filled in, but now shows the early stages where the plaster is starting to come away from the plasterboard:
View attachment 34915
Photos 4-6 show bedroom 3 which is as bad, if not worse than bedroom 1:
View attachment 34916View attachment 34917
View attachment 34918
The last photo shows the landing and early stages of the plaster coming away after being redecorated at the same time as bedroom 2:
View attachment 34919

Can anyone suggest why this is happening? The house has some of the loft boarded over and used for storage but I don't believe having stuff in the loft is causing this problem.

Any ideas?

I guess the easiest way to deal with this is to just fix new plasterboard over the existing and reskim and decorate, but the problem with that would be the coving and loft hatch surround, also I'm hoping this can sorted out with as little disruption as possible, so any suggestions from the experts here would be gratefully received :)
Click to expand...
It's obviously blown and taking off loose bits and patching isn't really practical as the rest won't be in great shape either.
Take off architrave on loft hatch, extend the wood inside down 15mm then board and skim.
Take off coving and put up new or patch in around top of rooms.
You're not going to get an easy hassel free fix if you want it done right and to last
 
giskard said:
In my upstairs bedrooms there are cracks in the ceilings where the plaster has separated from the underlying plasterboard and looks like it's ready to fall off.

The first two photos are bedroom 1 where the plaster is coming away from the ceiling and is pretty bad:
View attachment 34913View attachment 34914
The third photo is bedroom 2 which had the same problem as bedroom 1 but was redecorated over 18 months ago and the cracked/falling plaster removed and filled in, but now shows the early stages where the plaster is starting to come away from the plasterboard:
View attachment 34915
Photos 4-6 show bedroom 3 which is as bad, if not worse than bedroom 1:
View attachment 34916View attachment 34917
View attachment 34918
The last photo shows the landing and early stages of the plaster coming away after being redecorated at the same time as bedroom 2:
View attachment 34919

Can anyone suggest why this is happening? The house has some of the loft boarded over and used for storage but I don't believe having stuff in the loft is causing this problem.

Any ideas?

I guess the easiest way to deal with this is to just fix new plasterboard over the existing and reskim and decorate, but the problem with that would be the coving and loft hatch surround, also I'm hoping this can sorted out with as little disruption as possible, so any suggestions from the experts here would be gratefully received :)
Click to expand...

All needs stripping and re doing...work in your loft has caused movement.
Joists need checking.
No easy fix im afraid.
 
Thanks all for your suggestions, I was hoping to be able to get away with removing the loose plaster, priming/sealing the bare area with Blue Grit or something similar and then re-plastering the area and redecorating the ceilings. Replacing the ceiling etc will be too costly but yeah, I guess that'd be more likely to fix the problem.
 
giskard said:
In my upstairs bedrooms there are cracks in the ceilings where the plaster has separated from the underlying plasterboard and looks like it's ready to fall off.

The first two photos are bedroom 1 where the plaster is coming away from the ceiling and is pretty bad:
View attachment 34913View attachment 34914
The third photo is bedroom 2 which had the same problem as bedroom 1 but was redecorated over 18 months ago and the cracked/falling plaster removed and filled in, but now shows the early stages where the plaster is starting to come away from the plasterboard:
View attachment 34915
Photos 4-6 show bedroom 3 which is as bad, if not worse than bedroom 1:
View attachment 34916View attachment 34917
View attachment 34918
The last photo shows the landing and early stages of the plaster coming away after being redecorated at the same time as bedroom 2:
View attachment 34919

Can anyone suggest why this is happening? The house has some of the loft boarded over and used for storage but I don't believe having stuff in the loft is causing this problem.

Any ideas?

I guess the easiest way to deal with this is to just fix new plasterboard over the existing and reskim and decorate, but the problem with that would be the coving and loft hatch surround, also I'm hoping this can sorted out with as little disruption as possible, so any suggestions from the experts here would be gratefully received :)
Click to expand...
It will settle
 
Was it skim over artex.. Look like artex tape has blown so pull out and tape and repair. The rest maybe OK as stuck well as the old artex brown paper tapes were useless if not beaded in well. I always pull out tapes prior to new skim and have sometimes missed one that blew out. Annoying
 
@giskard is this an overskim gone wrong , you seem to suggest its straight on board , but unlikely ( not impossible ) to produce these effects unless an overskim
 
Havagojo said:
@giskard is this an overskim gone wrong , you seem to suggest its straight on board , but unlikely ( not impossible ) to produce these effects unless an overskim
Click to expand...
There was originally artex on the ceiling which was plastered over back in December 2010, just before we moved in, so no, it's not straight on plasterboard.
 
Wayners said:
Was it skim over artex.. Look like artex tape has blown so pull out and tape and repair. The rest maybe OK as stuck well as the old artex brown paper tapes were useless if not beaded in well. I always pull out tapes prior to new skim and have sometimes missed one that blew out. Annoying
Click to expand...
How to you get the artex tape out? by digging out the artex until the tape can be seen? I'd guess that the original artex was done in the 1970s or maybe 1980s
 
Just pull. They come out easy and takes 5mins to pull most tapes from a ceiling.. Just got to study and make sure you get them all but I've missed a few over the years because of off cuts being used.. Dose my nut if they blow when skimmed.. I normally fill join a bit then tape. Tapes that are to deep under filler can fail with a crack so better if tape is near surface to fill out a bit before new tapes
 
giskard said:
There was originally artex on the ceiling which was plastered over back in December 2010, just before we moved in, so no, it's not straight on plasterboard.
Click to expand...
at last a clue to whats going on as plaster will not leave boards /just a thought has it ever been papered because stripping off paper with a steam stripper melts the pva below and off comes the plaster/if not its just been a bad job but usually that shows straight away
 
So plaster has not bonded to artex properly...
Maybe it was pva ed but adhesion also depends on type of paint used.....
Better chance with blue grit but boarding over artex solves any issues.....
 
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