Plaster and lathe ceilings - would that put you off a house?

[CatAndHisKit]

The survey noted that the terrace I'm buying has these, and he added that such ceilings can 'collapse without warning' - spoke to surveyor, he say well not quite with no warning but once there is a crack you need to act on it at once.

Are these usual for late Victorian houses? I have always lived in similar age places but either flats or a large house, haven't had them before. Is it more usual than I think it is?

So if cracks start appearing, how expensive are these to repair / replace potentially? And would you really need to act immdiately (I have a lot to spend on already when I buy, so I worry about endless ceiling repairs to come).
It's an end terrace over three floors (incl the loft) so pretty much two op two down plus loft.

*two up

Eh? What else would a ceiling be made of?

It’s not a hard job for a plasterer to put some plasterboard up and skim it (but it can be messy taking the old ceiling down). The trouble is getting hold of a good plasterer. If you are that worried you could get a plasterer to redo any ceilings as soon as you move in.

I moved into a 1930’s house and we still had lathe and plaster ceilings in the shower room and toilet. We only took them down and put up a new ceiling as we knocked the two rooms into one.

@AnoymousCoward

Eh? What else would a ceiling be made of?

Plasterboard?

Lath and plaster ceilings are common in old houses, and don’t last forever, but I’ve never had one collapse without warning! Sounds a bit over dramatic

Ah, Right. Surely lathe and plaster would be easier to repair than plasterboard of it came down? You could repair just the bit that had fallen in rather than have the whole area of a board fall down?
You may be able to tell I am not an expert though...

Very common, it wouldn’t be of concern to me.

You cant patch repair lathe and plaster really, as there is no straight edge to repair to. They very rarely do fall down, but usually there's a cause such as water leak. Many will be totally fine, they are very messy to remove. If in good condition wouldn't put me off buying but just need to keep an eye and act on any cracks.

When I was a kid about 8 I climbed on the arm of a chair to reach up into a high cupboard for the button tin as Mum was going to sew a button on for me when whoosh the ceiling fell down in corner of the room I was in. Some of the plaster dust went into my eyes. Plasterer came and put up new ceiling.

caring [shock[ nice! imagine getting that age old dry dust into your eyes!

Ok, that's reassuring.
RoseHarper and Slay - good to know it can be just a patch repair. Do you know roughly how much one room would cost to patch up / redo? As you say, hard to find a good plasterer, so that may make them expensive.

I just want to know what I'm in for potentially - it's not the only thing on survey, some other issues already there that need repair. It's all about how good a value the house is, I had lost money om my current house (ratio of repairs to selling price, I couldn't sell for more than I bought). So I'm now all about risks and calculations.

that was

My friend has lived in an old house with lathe and plaster ceilings for over twenty years. In that time two ceilings have come down without warning - living room and bedroom. Luckily no-one was in either room at the time.

Ive always lived in old houses with lathe and plaster ceilings,and walls (one had horsehair plaster too).Any house 1930s or older will without doubt be made of lathe and plaster. It wouldn't concern me. When you buy an old property there will always be things that need maintenance and repair this just happens to be one if them. Its not common but can happen. Ive never experienced it in a whole string of houses. If you love a house you have to expect some work will need to be done to keep it in a good state, old houses generally need a fair bit. Its not hard for a plasterer to repair or redo a ceiling. They would patch or redo with plaster board quickly and easily the surveyor sounds excessilvely alarmist in my opinion. Did he say why the ceiling is loose?

Lath and plaster ceilings downstairs in the house we moved to - the ones upstairs are plasterboard and relatively new.

One section, above the fire place and divided by a decorative beam from the rest of the ceiling - came down in the night - it was horrendously messy.

There had been a crack which we'd ignored - it was exacerbated by us putting in a new ensuite upstairs above it.

I'm now keeping a much closer eye on the other ceilings. But yes, they can collapse quite suddenly and cause a lot of damage in doing so.

Keep an eye on them and if you are worried get them redone before you move in.

I had a lathe and plaster ceiling replaced in my sitting room. From memory it cost about £600. But that was ten years ago.

Replacing cornicing is mega expensive though.

It wouldn't put me off buying but I have known them come down. I had mine all plasterboarded and skimmed for about £3000.

I know mine would be verymessy if they came down - in certain wind directions, a faint fall of black sooty dust creeps out along the ceiling / wall join and ends up on the skirting boards.
I had some swirly textured ceiling paper removed when I moved in and replaced with lining paper. The decorator said one area of the living roomceiling nearr the windows is mostly held up by the lining paper and not to touch it in case it comes down!
I steer well clear.

We had a large Victorian lathe and plaster ceiling collapse without warning. Caused considerable damage and if anyone had been in the room they've have been seriously injured if not killed (enormous chunks of heavy plaster). Paid £1k for new ceiling to be put up.

That said, our current house has the same ceilings and I don't give it a moment's notice. I did insist that the survey did a quick check on all ceiling however.

I think mine was the horsehair plaster too. It had been papered over with woodchip but was dipping slightly so thought it best to tackle it than wait for a collapse.

Just to clarify they CANT be patch repaired.Cost to replace, ie remove and replace would be around £1500-£2000 in a decent size room, much more if original cornice.

I've lived in a rented house, Coronation Street type, where both downstairs ceilings suddenly collapsed, and the same happened to a friend in somewhere older but grander. These weren't water-related and had we been in the rooms at the time we would have been injured, so if you're concerned, get it assessed/replaced.

Messy to remove, usually dealt with by overboarding with plasterboard and skimming. Depends on where you are, but shouldn't be more than a couple of days work and materials - c. £500? Any decorative plasterwork would complicate matters though.

Yes. We had them all over boarded with plasterboard and skimmed.

Our house is 1892 and all ceilings are lath and plaster.
A small bit of ceiling fell down in one bedroom, but that’s all (& that was probably 25 years ago - still good!)

Our flat is 1880s with lathe & plaster ceilings. We had all the ceilings skimmed and part of one ceiling patch-repaired about 8 years ago. All fine so far apart from hairline cracks.

@GlamGiraffe

Ive always lived in old houses with lathe and plaster ceilings,and walls (one had horsehair plaster too).Any house 1930s or older will without doubt be made of lathe and plaster. It wouldn't concern me. When you buy an old property there will always be things that need maintenance and repair this just happens to be one if them. Its not common but can happen. Ive never experienced it in a whole string of houses. If you love a house you have to expect some work will need to be done to keep it in a good state, old houses generally need a fair bit. Its not hard for a plasterer to repair or redo a ceiling. They would patch or redo with plaster board quickly and easily the surveyor sounds excessilvely alarmist in my opinion. Did he say why the ceiling is loose?

This ^