Hi, we live in Brisbane and the ceiling for our utility/laundry room is sagging in the middle along one of its four walls.

No other ceilings in the house are sagging along one wall.

Poking a head up into the ceiling for a visual inspection revealed nothing unusual.

It is a brick wall, and the adjacent room ceiling supported by this brick wall is fine, but the ceiling that is sagging is sort of slipping down the top of brick wall. It unclear if it is also sagging in the centre of the room, but it is definitely not sagging on either of the other three walls of the room.

The house is about 20 years old. It was custom built by the owner builder. We bought the house seven years ago. It is located in the Brisbane suburb of Sunnybank.

Looks like we will need help getting this fixed.

Who do I call?

Any advice for what type of contractor fixes this would be helpful, and any referral to specific contractors or handymen who do this would be very helpful.

Thanks.

Frank

Dear Frank,

Sounds like you need a Plasterer. I've got some issues at the moment too with a ceiling, but I'm on the Northside of Brisbane, and I haven't got to the stage of making any phone calls yet. But it certainly sounds like you're looking for exactly the same kind of fellow as me - a "Repairy" sort of Plasterer, but on the other side of town...

If I were you, I would start looking in the "Plasterers" column of the "Trades" section of your local rag over there. The Tradies will usually advertise in the local rag when they're looking to line up a bit of work, so you'll probably get better response and more respect - ie. they might actually turn up, and then give you a fair quote rather than something completely ridiculous. I would go through the Yellow Pages only as a second resort.

You probably want a one-man show by the sounds of it, and the ads in the local rag should give you an idea of who is small and who does repairs or not. Try to get someone a bit older, because they'll most likely have the "nous" over the younger guys when it comes to repairs and patch ups.

Also, it might be a good idea if you can somehow move this thread down two forums to the "Painting, Plastering, Tiling, etc." section, because you might get a better response. I'm not exactly sure how to do this, though. If you can't work it out either, maybe you could just start up a new thread down there...

Best Wishes,
Batpig.

Frank you should be able to fix this yourself. BTW Bat your assesment of finding the right plasterer was spot on.

The problem sounds like a nail is missing on the edge of the sheet that has allowed the ceiling to sag over time. This can be fixed without doing any damage to the ceiling provided you have access to the roof space above.

It is not quite as simple as replacing the nail as the board has now sagged into a new positon a screw in the middle of this would not make the entire area flat.

What is reqired it that you use a prop with a tee peice at the top to spread the load evenly and push the ceiling back up level. Now we need to create support over the entire area to stop the board sagging again. This can be done by using peices of timber and screwed from underneath. Or to eliminate the need to patch holes and repaint you can create ribs of support with plasterboard.

Cut 150mm wide strips to the width between the framing members. Using a "wet" mix of cornice advesive stick them onto the back of the ceiling board between the framing members. I would laminate 4 peices on top of each other. Now you need to create a "saddle" over the framing member to "replace" the missing nail. Use say 6 layes of fibreglass tape soaked in cornice adhesive and drape over the faming member and across the ceiling for about 150mm each side.

When you remove the props the sheet won't move one mm. This is a great way to fix it you have the patience. Just leave the prop in place until the cornice adhesive has well and truly set.

BTW this post would have been better in the plastering section so others may benefit.

Cheers Rod

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What Rod said. Also you might check the vent line to your dryer and make sure there are no gaps letting humid air into the room from above or below.

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"If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."

William Blake

Thanks for the suggestions, Batpig, Rod and Capt. Zero.

Frank