Old ceiling help - what are my options?

[Ericaceae]

Hi folks,
We've recently moved to an Edwardian house, and we've got bubbling wallpaper on our bedroom ceiling. Considering most of the others are smooth plaster and lath, I'm guessing whatever's under there was papered for a reason.
There's no way this can be skimmed when papered is there? I've got a horrible feeling if we stripped it the ceiling would fall in too, and we could really do without a huge mess and expense.
If we got it boarded, what could we do with the ceiling rose and cornicing?
Any experiences?

Is that paper? looks like Artex to me, but it may just be the pictures.

It looks like woodchip or anaglypta to me. Probably put there to disguise uneveness. I would leave it alone, assuming the bubbling isn't being caused by a leak of course. When I say leave it, I mean until you have the time and funds to tackle it because it will probably need re-plastering when you get it off.

It's definitely paper - you can see the joins. The lovely artexing has been saved for the hall and stairs (Whhhhyyyyy?!)

We had our dining room ceiling over boarded in a Victorian house. They screwed the plasterboard to the joists underneath the old ceiling without having to take that down. We didn’t have a ceiling rise but do have cornice. They left a “shadow gap” as advised by our architect and then skimmed the new board. I think it looks good. Will try to upload a picture.

Ooh interested by your shadow gap-did you have to hunt around for plasterers who got it?

Hope you can see the “shadow gap” - it sort of blends into the cornice but is just the plasterboard finishing with a small gap between it and cornice. It was just our builders who did it - don’t think it was too difficult.

Our decorators removed coving, boarded over the existing ceiling then skimmed and put new coving up.

I’m not sure whether the ceiling rose in your picture is original or not?

Thanks all. The shadow gap looks great! No, pretty sure that ceiling rose is 80s/90s! We've got original roses in the living room and downstairs hall which have been softened by layers of paint over the years.
They match the cornicing in style, while this one doesn't. It also looks far too wee.
Guess the sensible thing to do would be to replace it with a planet but larger one.

A large planet 🌍 sounds great

We have had various issues with our ceilings and various solutions. Original lathe and plaster plus cornicing.

Where is your first picture taken? Am wondering why the cornice finishes and what the gap is between wall and ceiling where there is no cornice. The wrinkles in the paper seem to originate there? Is it a bay window?

The bubbles in the wallpaper are nothing to worry about. I would simple leave well alone. Its never a good idea to remove historic lath and plaster as its all part of the character of a historic house, with its uneven surface. The vast majority of builders will just rip off lath and plaster as they can't be bothered or are ignorant of how to handle it.

If you post another picture of the ceiling rose, a close up then I can comment on it for you.

Fwiw, they generally papered over cracks. We had really thick paper on some of our ceilings. Provided the cracks are purely cosmetic, we were offered various solutions. With different costs and results.

Complete removal of ceiling, new ceiling installed. Including replica cornice. £££ and very messy. Not our choice.
Repair of cornice including replacement if needed. ££
Existing ceiling screwed into joists and boarded/skimmed. £
Repair of cracks and skim. £

So we did various solutions depending on the room, if there was cornice and how bad the ceiling was.

Removing wallpaper doesn't guarantee the plaster will fall but there is a risk. You cant skim wallpaper. Don't see why you can't board and skim paper though. They well need to drill into joists to secure the board so the weight is not on the existing ceiling and you can get thin board which helps with cornice. They should also be able to skim the ends of board to help blend with the cornice.

There is always a risk that cracks will reappear after any repairs including boarding. Provided cracks are cosmetic, they just add to the character

The cornicing is partly behind built-in wardrobes, @tilder
That's a whole other story! We're keeping the carcasses but redoing the doors and painting them dark with the walls so they blend in rather than being a wall of "white" gloss

Here you go, @Wauden
I've also attached a pic of a similarly-sized one elsewhere in the house that looks far older, and it looks nothing like the same style (pic with hanging lights is in hall, shorter lights in bedroom)

And another, in the living room. Yes, we've got wallpaper in there too...

Reference your photo of 1502 hours.
I think that the rose in the bedroom, ie the one in the left-hand photo, is not original. The one in the right-hand photo probably is original and is lovely.
Unless there really are compelling and proven structural reasons to touch lath and plaster, ie if a chartered building surveyor states there is live movement with risk to life, leave lath and plaster well alone. It can last 100s of years.

The living room rose could well be original.

I would agree some of those roses look older than others. A crisp edge to the plaster ime is less likely to be original.

I would also agree that removing lathe and plaster is generally a last resort. The plaster in them can be heavy though. One of our ceilings had no structural issue but the plaster had lost its key, dropped and was dangerous. That was pretty obvious though.

Good luck op! Period houses are beautiful.