Ceiling coming down and insurance

[lanadelgrey]

Ceiling looks like it will finally come down. Is it something you claim on insurance? Do you wait til it does or phone them now? Or simply do it out of your own pocket?
it‘s an old ceiling in Edwardian house built on clay so has been affected by dry summers.
I‘ve never claimed on my house insurance before

If it is coming down just really due to age, wear & tear, gradual deterioration then I’d be very surprised if you could successfully claim on your insurance for it.

Oh, we had this. The lathe and plaster wears out.

It's wear and tear and I don't think you can claim. May I gently suggest you sort it before it comes down so you avoid ruddy lumps of plaster falling on anyone's head. And the unearthly mess.

Our builder/decorator, 17 years on still mentions it when he sees us. Ha ha ha that time you two were in bed and made the ceiling collapse. The bangs were monumental as it went and the dust. I shall never forget dh emerging from his investigations covered in plaster dust. It all hoovered up but was a fag.

I think it was less than a grand.

Do you mean more of a Lath and plaster? Some insurers cover, some very much do not. We had a battle when one came down with zero warning and they eventually paid out as entire room was covered but they sent assessors, restorers etc before admitting replacements were needed. We have since taken down all other ceilings at great expense, the house was built in the late 1820’s.

I claimed on my house insurance when my Edwardian ceiling came down due to a leak from the bay window roof tiles. It was unexpected (during a storm) and affected premiums. It made a huge mess and ruined my carpet as well.
In your case it sounds like wear and tear so you’d be better off repairing it now. Otherwise they may not accept a claim and you’ll have to spend more fixing or replacing whatever else it damages.

Oh, I've remembered - we could have claimed for the carpet and sofas but they were 20+ years old, hoovered up okmand needed replacing in any event and we decided not to impact our premium.

You probably should sort it now rather than wait for it to drop on you OP

We came home one day and found the hall ceiling on the floor, it was old, we fixed it, didn't even think about trying to claim it on the insurance.

You’re posting in relationships. What’s the cause of it coming down?

Edit to say if just age impacted by dry summers, not sure if it’ll be an insurance job?

Put a claim in with insurance and also get builders in now to stabilise it. We had a wall collapse due to storm damage and as it turned out a very old wall that had been patched back together with the wrong materials. Insurance wouldn’t pay and we had £60k to pony up to fix it, which thankfully we could afford. But there is no benefit to allowing more damage to occur before getting it fixed, though do consider if you can do any of the work yourself to save money. Our insurer was very quick to send someone out to inspect it and make a decision, within days.