Why is the plaster loose on the ceiling? Please help.

[Captainbarnacles1101]

Hiya
Im buying my first home indepentantly (ie without exH
The survey comes back as great except to say there is an area of ceiling in the living room where the plaster has lost its key.

They have said this could be due to a water leak but have not qualified this with any other evidence eg stain on rook or bulge in plaster.

The house has been empty since it was repossessed in February and the waterwas turned off at source at this time.

What other causes are there for loose plaster on a ceiling?

please help im a little worried about this now.

thanks in advance

[Captainbarnacles1101]

bump

[KirstyJC]

The only time I have seen plaster loose on a ceiling was when the flat upstairs had a leak. The whole ceiling fell down!

What is above the area of plaster? Is there a sink/bath/shower/boiler above it? If so I would imagine that's the problem. It may well still be a problem too if you turn the water back on again!

I presume you can't ask the buyers if it was repossessed. Have you spoken to the surveyors in person? We had a survey done which was 65 pages long yet somehow managed to say virtually nothing. Once I had read it I had a list of questions, so I got hold of the surveyor and asked him over the phone, and he was able to give his opinion - something he wasn't allowed to do in writing. If you can speak to them you might get them to say what they think it is caused by.

If it is something obvious then it might be fairly straightforward to sort out eg a bath leak, if you are planning to replace the bathroom anyway, might not be a big deal.

Good luck.

[snowman1]

what does it look like?does it have a shape? we had "square" shaped cracks in our plaster, it was down to the fact that the plaster board was nailed in, rather than screwed ( a building convention in the time the house was built). does it crumble when touched or ids it discoloured? do you know roughly if the spot is under any pipes for radiators or the bathroom or is it near a chimney, where the plaster will regularly heat and contract? Providing you are happy there are no leaks, I wouldn't worry too much, just budget in to get it reskimmed/possibly plasterboarded at some point! If the house has just been done up and they have taken off chipboard wall paper, this can sometimes lose the "glue" that is holding the plaster together and it can get damaged too. am holding baby, apologies for lack of capital letters.

[PigletJohn]

how old is the house?

is it in or near a major city, port, or industrial area?

[Captainbarnacles1101]

The house was only built in 1999. There is an ensuite above the bathroom However the areas are small and scattered all over the ceiling. Approx 6 different places. There is no staining or marking.

[PigletJohn]

it is very unusual for a modern house, which will have plasterboard ceilings, to have loose plaster. It is most likely to have been caused by a water leak. Modern plasterboard often has a foil backing which is waterproof but I am surprised there are no brown marks at the joints, unless it has been repainted to hide them. Water will pool above this kind of ceiling and I have known it stay up there for a couple of weeks, dripping, until the ceiling was pulled down and it gushed over the workman.

The other possible causes are if the ceiling has been replastered, for example over Artex, that has come loose; people stepping through gaps when the floorboards above have been raised, or if insulation has been packed excessively tightly between the ceiling and the floor above (which is very rare unless it is a boarded-out loft).

If the house was 68 years old or more, I would have suggested a different cause