Please help.. new house and just discovered this.. (pics attached)

[Hello2022]

We recently moved into a new 1930s property, survey carried out and no recent issues, however when my partner was stripping down the ceiling wallpaper in the main bedroom he discovered large water marks and black mould on the ceiling near the bay window.

We called out a roofer who has had a look and cannot see any obvious signs of damage on the roof - it has rained in the last hour or so and again no obvious dripping etc

However I am really worried about it, we have managed to remove the mould, however the wood in the photograph appears to be soft and flaking away.

Does anyone know what the next best steps are for us to take? Would it be likely that the whole ceiling above the bedroom need to be replaced? See photos of exposed wood which is soft.

Please help!!!!

Few more pics

Unfortunately I think you need a new ceiling. The 1st pic shows the exposed lath ( wood strips) . Our house is a similar age and we had a ceiling like that start to crumble. We got it replaced. Piglet John Will hopefully be along soon with some concrete advice.

Yeah you need @PigletJohn to advise

Thank you.. sounds like I have a right to be concerned.. argh!

Does anyone have any idea how much a new ceiling would cost? I guess that is a how long is a piece of string question though arghhh 😑

We had a leak like that in an upstairs bay window. The lead in the roof valleys had perished and had to be replaced. Cost £1750 to repair as we needed scaffolding

Don't panic about the plaster; taking down an old plaster and lath ceiling is messy but DIYable and replacing it with plaster board is not a difficult or expensive job if you pay a tradesman.

(we did two. One, DH put his foot through it while in attic. The other collapsed with a roar in the night onto our bed. Luckily we were not in it or we might have been killed, very heavy Victorian plaster with a century of slate bits/ dust/crap on it.). DH and my uncle and cousin cleared the mess and replaced the ceiling amazingly fast. While you've got the ceiling down, is a chance to run any new wiring etc.

I'd be more worried about the soft wood; could be extensive rot. Get a builder in for a look; ask neighbours for recommended local trades.

If this was under the wallpaper with no signs of it before you stripped the paper, it could be an old issue rather than an ongoing one. It might even be why paper was put up in the first place, to cover old damage. To be honest, old properties almost always have something historic like this somewhere. In our (much older) property this sort of thing is pretty standard. Was there a smell of damp in the room? That would indicate a current problem.

Husband, who is a builder, says two things. First you need to establish whether the cause of dampness is still active. As you have exposed the wood you should be able to see that by watching it for a while. Two possible causes would be a leaking water tank up above or the roof. Not all roof leaks are easy to spot as the leak can be away from the damp site because water travels till it finds a way in. The second thing is you would probably only need to repair a small section of the ceiling. It could be that when the original leak was stopped, the ceiling was closed up before it had dried out properly and moisture got trapped inside allowing the wood to rot, meaning the source has been dealt with and the damp is historic.Good luck and please come back and tell us when it is sorted out.

Was that damage contained under wallpaper? It seems quite extensive

If that was under wallpaper it must be old damage . So perhaps the cause of the leak was sorted?

I can't make out the scale, but it looks to me like the damage is under the main roof, not the bay roof.

Have a look in the loft.

The roof may have been repaired and the damage plastered over

How old is the house?

Brown plaster is usually modern gypsum.

Poke the timbers with a flat-ended screwdriver. Hard. Nothing pointed because the marks will look like boring insect damage.

If the roof timbers are rotten you need an older carpenter. If there is a leak you need a roofer.

Hi all

Thank you so much for all your comments so far, to answer questions few questions

• wallpaper was over it and we did not see any signs of damp. Surveyor did not pick up any sign of damp either.
• the room did smell musky tbh with you, we thought it was the old carpet/curtains naively!
• there is one larger stain and some smaller ones to the left hand side, there is also a small amount of mould just above the window where it protrudes

We need to rip the rest of the paper to see if there is anymore, really hoping not!

@Jjjayfee really helpful - thank you so much. A little reassuring too that the ceiling can be partially fixed!

OP we replaced the entire ceiling of the room ( approx 5 x 4 metres) and it cost us £1200 which was recently and in N London. Let me know if you'd like our plasterer's deets, he was great.

.

@PigletJohn thank you so much for your comments. I have taken a photo a little further away, showing the left side of the room. The larger patch is to the right.

Silly question I am sure but what is the difference between a carpenter and a joiner?

@KaptainKaveman thank you for that, was this just the plastering or wooden timbers too? I am assuming both for that price? Reassuring as the room isn't anywhere near as large as that, so perhaps won't be as expensive as I first thought! We're not in london but thank you so much for your kind offer.

He got rid of the timbers ( oh the dust, the dust ) and replaced with plasterboard then plastered over it. Looks nice now.

a carpenter makes large things like floors, roofs, timber house frames; uses a big saw, makes birdmouth joints, and also hangs and fits doors and windows made by a joiner.

a joiner makes doors, windows, (joinery), makes mortices and tenon joints, uses planes and fine saws.

a cabinetmaker uses finer tools, makes drawers, dovetail joints and veneers

there is overlap.

If its dry, only these bits and its not your forever home - I would probably just mesh and skim the ceiling.

Try going back to the surveyor and let them know that you’ve uncovered something that wasn’t mentioned in the survey. Ask what the damp metre readings were in that area. They will probably offer to revisit to give advice for free.

You can buy a basic damp meter for about 20 quid (make sure it's one suitable for wood, it'll say wood/timber in the description), well worth having. It'll help you monitor whether there is any damp there and whether over time it dries out (or whether it gets damper after rain). They can also be used on brickwork.