Taking down plasterboard to expose the ceiling joists - difficult/messy job?

[deepest]

Was thinking of doing and then painting them white to give the impression of higher ceilings -- has anyone done this? is it straight forward?

We have just had an extension with new roof. In ours there is insulation behind the plasterboard (celotex), so this might be the case fof you too...

The joists may be horrible, rough wood and difficult to paint. What is the floor like above the joists? You will be looking at it. I would think twice about this.

it will be dirty.

If there is a room above, noise transmission will be much, much worse.

If there is a roof above, heat loss will be much, much worse.

Exposed beams with let fire spread faster too. Be careful !

We are planning to do this in our attic bedrooms. The beams and joists are glorious old elm, which will look beautiful exposed, and it will make the ceilings much higher. We were concerned about insulation but our project manager has told us it is still possible to insulate - though I don't know how this works.

I think you can get some very thin insulating board eg. celotex that can fit between the beams and still leave most of the width of the beam exposed. Probably not as effective as a couple of inches of lambswool/fibre insulation but it does the trick.

Ours will be on the ground floor - and there is great insulation between the floors so only issue will be the mess and I suppose any electrics and pipework that run thru ground floor when ceiling being exposed. I have no idea on the state of the joists - (house built in the 5) put the plan is to paint them white. Fire risk is worrying me though -- might gave to look at building regs.

We are builing a loft room -- might look at exposing them here as well on some of the elevations - might be a nice touch.

from memory, Celotex and Kingspan are about as good insulators as twice the thickness of mineral wool. They are more expensive.

It has to be cut to a very good fit, unlike the quilt which can be stuffed into irregular gaps.

Hmm - rented a large holiday cottage with another family last year that had done this. Wooden floorboards above. We could hear every word and bedspring creak from the rooms above. It was a real passion killer and I dread to think what the teenage years would be like....

Before removing any ceiling boards make sure it's not asbestos board. When was the house built/modified?

Yes I was also going to say to get an expert check for asbestos if anything predates 1980.

Plasterboard does not contain asbestos. It is very unususual to find Asbestolux or similar cement board inside ordinary houses (it used to be used for garages and corrugated roofing, or for firecladding)

Our house ceilings (built 1950) were tested and found to contain asbestos. Looked like normal plasterboard. We had them skimmed and some big raggedy holes (!) sorted out.

we are thinking of exposing the vaulted ceiling and beams in a listed building with leasehold in Bath _ I am pretty sure they wont allow it due to fire risk etc but it would make a huge difference aesthetically to the space. Does anyone have any thoughts on this - I just hate the clunky look of all the plasterboard beams....so unattractive!
Thoughts would be so valued please.

@jujudoll64 you will get more responses if you start a new thread I suspect.

You will probably need to apply for listed buildings consent to remove the ceiling. At the very least I would get preapplication advice.

Is it the roof beams that you want to expose?

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