Hi BP,

I'm not sure thaT anything would be written on the back of the sheets. It is possible that you open up the roof and be no less wiser.

Unless there is severe sagging or an obvious structural defect in the ceiling I would be inclined to leave it alone. You say there are cracks at the joins - this may not indicate failure of the ceilings. If the sheets are loose - ie they give and flex when you push up on them - then that is something that does need rectifying.

May I suggest you get a copy of the title deed and check the original owners names.

Many of the block of flats around the northern suburbs of Bris were put up by Italian families as their superannuation /retirement plans. (one family I know off had 56 blocks of flats scattered through Stafford, Clayfield, wooloowin, lutwyche, windsor) These flats were very well built but they were built largely by family members - hardly any tradespeople were called in.

In 1974 I had an Italian girlfriend whose family was very active in building flats. I would go out on weekends and help out (trying to win brownie points with gf's family) . The most common type of plaster ceiling I saw being made was this gypboard stuff.

It came in small sheets about 900 wide x 1800 long (so they could get up stairwells and doorways) and had a thick paper backing (2mm or so) and a smooth bare plaster/gypsum face. The sheets were square edged and they fixed them by nails usually roofing nails. Sometimes they used a strange mastic glue type stuff that an elderly family member made up in his garage to stick the sheets up and then nail.

Then they would finish it by screeing LIME plaster (Medini plaster - lime, gypsum, caesin, alum, clay and white sand/marble dust - I know cos I got to mix it up) over the whole ceiling. Italians love Lime plaster. I remember the smell and the ultrasmooth finish it gave. They would also save money by Limewashing the ceiling (instead of ceiling paint). The whole plastering was over in a day or two becuase the medini plaster is lovely stuff to work with.

Now if by chance you have got one of these ceilings or something like it you will have to be careful with various fillers you use for the cracks.

The 30 mm beading around the room instead of cornice is what the plasterer used to use as a screeing guide and I remember in a few cases they simply left it there becuase they were going to rent out the flat and it was good enough for the renters.

I renovated an ex italian 1973 flat at Clayfield in the 80's and found that everything had been medini plastered - they used fibro sheeting ceiling and then 12 mm of plaster over it - the walls had hessian reinforced plaster 25mm thick over masonite.

So the point to this long (and sentimental) spiel is that unless the celing is structurally defective I would be inclined to leave it alone. Looking under the roof may give you some clues and might be worth it from a "how did they do it?" perspective - but maybe not.

Doog

Great reply, Doogie. Those Italian Builders... interesting combo: Great Craftsman, but lots of tricks too! (and a heck of a lot of "Get Up and Go" by the sound of it!) I've got to say, I'm starting to warm to the "put new screws through the existing sheets" solution that seems to be the thread's consensus opinion. I suppose that I could scrape away at a bit of the ceiling paint in an area that a new piece of cornice was going to cover up in order to see if there was any paper on the underside of the sheets, and if I found paper that would probably "seal the deal" in my mind, so to speak. I could do my crazy "Laminate Trimmer" thing at the cracked joins, then screw all of the sheets at every batten, and then tape and refill the routed joins, before putting the cornices up. I might still try to lift the roof, though, because I'm still curious about the insulation arrangements up there, as well as the lintel situation above the Built-In's...

Many thanks to all of you,
Batpig.

Batpig I happened to catch that show about celings colasping and no insurance cover , it was with lath and plaster celings, though it could effect other celings as well
The celings fell because of water into the roof space and the plaster becoming saturated then the weight causes the celing to colapse these celings also had years of debris dust and ????? on them and the combined weight was enough to bring down trusses battens and all..
The insurance companies claimed the damage , water ingress was over a long period and the policies said you must maintain the house 's structual integrity and as the roof leaked it's your fault.

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Ashore




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Hey Ashore,
the report was a very recent one & no mention was made of water ingress. The ceilings in question were not lath & plaster, they were fibrous plaster & saddles. The saddles become compromised over the years with tradies, homeowners, diyers treading on them.
Insurers won't pay out on these ceilings collapsing as it is a "lack of maintenance" issue.
Cheers.

Border boy the show I saw and thought they were talking about was a saturated celing and the extra weight caused the problem proberly a diffrent report than the one you saw, this was a couple of months ago on one of the current affair shows and they showed inside a terrace in sydney that had the whole celing in the lounge room and was lath and plaster and had bought bearers and all down ,

Rgds

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Ashore




The trouble with life is there's no background music.