Soft plaster ceilling

Question

I live in a new build block completed 10 months ago. Recently I've noticed the plaster ceilling has buldges, long hair line cracks, sign of shrinkage (can see the suspended ceilling metal beams coming through, and most of all several areas in the ceilling are soft to touch, ie I can dent the plaster with my finger. There is no water leakage to be seen. Any ideas as to the possible causes and best way of remedial works please?

Justin · Accepted Answer

Hi there sounds like there's movement in the ceiling area or they didn't tape the joints of the boards. As for the bulges that's a bit of mystery if it has blown one of the boards then it needs addressing then either re-skimming over making sure it is prepped well and taped over

Simon · Answer

Between the the concrete sofit and the suspended MF ceiling should be a minimum 100mm cavity. If you have ducting/ air conditioning that is not connected air tight it could be releasing water vapours and this might be causing condensation to form on the metal primary channels.. 
Best result would be to cut a section of the ceiling out and do further inspection.

Duncan · Answer

With it being a new build, are you sure it is a plastered ceiling?
Many new builds are tape and jointed these days. Poor standard of work can result in problems you describe.
Without inspecting it, or knowing whether it is plastered or jointed it it hard to say.
A plastered ceiling would not be soft to the touch. 
Hairline cracks, I presume that are located along the edges of the plasterboard can be caused by many factors such as Poor fixing of either the  suspended ceiling or plasterboard leading to movement. They can be caused by heating the property to much and too fast soon after completion causing shrinkage to name just a few.
Visibly seeing the metal suspension system is just poor workmanship! 
There may of been a hundred of things that happened with the ceiling before you bought it. There could of been alterations, plumbing leaks. Faulty electricics to name a few that would need to be fixed before handing the property over to their selling team. All but most developers would access these areas through the ceiling and rely on making good theses repairs. Their thinking is that it is quicker and cheaper than to replace the whole thing. Poor repairs can lead to things that you describe such as cracking and bulging areas. I would hazard a guess that the bulging areas are bad repairs. Instead of cutting out the area and replacing the plasterboard they have tried to scrim an area too big.
Again there are could be hundreds of reasons for the issues you have. They all come down to bad workmanship and bad management.
Remedy???......if it’s that bad, get on to the developer to have it put right. Being a new build it should still be under warranty and they have a duty to rectify it.
If they fail to help, contact your solicitor and threaten legal action.

Raman · Answer

The best idea is to use the Polyfilla to cover or those cracks or patches and let them down to dry for a while. After that, u need to sand down those areas properly and go to paint

Daniel · Answer

It sounds like you have some sort of movement or damp or a leak. It sounds like it all needs to come down and fixing, whatever the problem is then replastering the ceiling.

Michael · Answer

Suspended ceiling should not have metal showing. I would remove if permissable the scrim tape hairline cracks. 2 coats pva and replaster

Louis · Answer

Sounds like it’s been water damaged in the past for sure. I would pull the old ceiling down. Check the leak has been fixed, and finally re-board and skim.

Glen · Answer

It sounds old and has possible had some damp problems on the past ...a new plasterboard ceiling and re-skim is needed

Dennis · Answer

Plasterboard probably too thin remedy overboard with fire line and re-skim

Soft plaster ceilling

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