Help with plastered ceiling

[jenjulief]

Hi - my name is Julie and I've registered as I need help with a plastered ceiling problem please.

18 months ago I had nearly all my house replastered ie. ceilings and walls to enable me to emulsion when I needed to. A couple of months back my front room, and bedroom above, started to show signs of cracking below the bay and up alongside the window. In addition, my dining room also started to crack (not in straight lines but from the door way towards the garden), and the bedroom above. About a week ago the dining room ceiling started to shed bits that landed on the carpet. Both the front room and dining room are artexed (about 18 years plus). The two upper bedrooms have plain ceilings.

So, I contacted my insurance company and visually they accept some movement to the front of the house - tests to be carried out - a big council tree on the pavement. But re the back - there are cracks up the wall (could be lintel problem above patio doors), but no vegetation close enough, so they will carry out the same tests near to drain.

Now can anyone help with my question please. I've been told that the reason for cracking, falling small bits of plaster (the size of one's hand) is that the artex (you can see the original ceiling with a crack in it), covered by fresh plaster 18 months ago, is debonding. Therefore I'm not covered on my insurance.

In preparation for this, I rang the guy who did the plastering and he told me that any cracks would have appeared within 3 days of carrying out the work. As there were no cracks to begin with, he replastered. If the coving had cracked (ceiling to wall), I had movement in the house. In the dining room and above bedroom, the coving has opened in corner joints like on the breast, and I'm sure there are some cracks in other joints. When I mentioned this to the surveyor, she said one shouldn't cove ceiling to wall. He should have tapped the ceiling and advised me to have had it removed. By removing the coving (original) and replacing it with B&Q coving could have disturbed the ceiling, and caused it to crack. Likewise the weight of the plaster.

I accept I need to wait for the tests, but I don't understand the technicalities, so any help much appreciated.

Kind regards, Julie

 

[warriorupnorth]

I moved this post here as you may get more of a response, welcome to the forum

 

[flynnyman]

my post hasnt moved with it and i cant be arsed typin again oh s**t i am

 

[warriorupnorth]

my post hasnt moved with it and i cant be arsed typin again oh s**t i am

Thats cos you posted on another post they put in another thread (double up)

 

[flynnyman]

i see

 

[Chaz]

Hi Julie.
In my opinion, the skimmed plaster should never 'delaminate' from it's base - be it wall or ceiling.
However, there are a few factors which may effect adhesion.

1, Improper preparation, where the original surface is unsuitable for skimming ie: whitewash type paints are a bugger and require sealing before skim.
2, Movement in the ceiling - less likely as this will cause cracking, rather than pieces falling off.
3, Saying that, I have come across defects that have been caused by a sharp type of impact (like a dropped hammer) from above the ceiling and plaster local to the area comes off in a hand sized piece, revealing the original artex below.
4, If the paint was gloss then this creates adhesive issues where the background needs a suitable key before pva etc.
5, Moisture ingress can weaken the original PVA adhesive and the plaster can fail - this is easily identified as dark damp patch/ long term leak black mold on surface before failure.
6, Cracking that looks like a dry river bed means the plaster sucked in too quick, was not worked adequately before it dried - is quite common in larger rooms, with higher ceilings, or if the weather was hot. The plaster will more likely fail in this instance as there is little adhesion to the original surface.

Wall cracks, does the wall sound hollow when tapped local to the cracks, if yes then were they hollow prior to the re-skim? difficult to prove this late.
If hollow sounding then the rendered plaster has delaminated from brickwork and will need removing.
Alternatively, if there is structural subsidence, nothing any plasterer can do until the background is stable.
These views are my opinion based on my experiences, some other folk will offer differing advice.
Hope this helps.

 

[kebab king]

If it has lasted 18 months then i doubt it is a quality issue with the plasterer.Even though the movement is on the front of the house it could still be cause problems at the rear, the house is solid and if things move something has to give.It really could be so many different issues, best wait till you get the report .