How is my Victorian porch ceiling made?

[ismellburning]

Hello everyone,

I live in a Victorian terrace built in 1903.

It has a standard covered porch at the front. I'm looking to install a PIR onto the porch ceiling, which only measures about 2' x 2'.

Can anyone offer any insight as to how the ceiling works, for want of a better phrase? I can't see any screws holding it to joists, and there are no brackets that I can see.

Short version: if I pull it down, how would I go about installing a replacement?

Cheers!

 

[TheVictorian]

Photo please!

 

[ismellburning]

Ah now there's an idea.

Untitled

• ismellburning
• 8 Jul 2014
• 1

As you can see the cable for the light simply sticks through the wood and has been secured with putty/filler. I'm installing a PIR which I think will be a bit destructive, so I wonder if it might be easier to remove the old ceiling and put up a new one.

I just need to know if it's something I can achieve with a box of screws or if it's held in place with something more complex!

Thanks

 

[TheVictorian]

Likely to be lath and plaster but impossible to tell really.

 

[ismellburning]

Definitely wood! Lath and plaster would be (relatively) easy as you could knock a hole in it then fiill it afterwards. Not too sure I could get a good finish by cutting a hole in the wood and trying to fill it...

 

[Flyboytim]

Often T+G floorboard offcuts were used in this sort of position, and given a skim of plaster and limewashed, and years later, given a coat of latex paint or two.

Why fitting a PIR device need be destructive, I don't know - the wood boards should easily support a fitting secured to the surface with wood screws.

You can always test a few screws in the ceiling, well away from the light cable. The wood should be about 15 - 18mm thick.

 

[ismellburning]

Why fitting a PIR device need be destructive, I don't know - the wood boards should easily support a fitting secured to the surface with wood screws.

Important not to over-estimate my mad DIY skillz chap Generally like to think I can fill any holes I make but if I knew how this lot went together I might attack with a bit more confidence...

Appreciate the hints & tips as ever...

 

[tony1851]

Hello everyone,

I live in a Victorian terrace built in 1903.

Were you away when they did history

 

[tony1851]

If it is a recessd porch, say with part of a bedroom above, it's likely to be lath-and-plaster.
Sometimes they would use match-boarding (looks like t&g boarding but narrower and thinner and with decorative grooves and beads run along it).
But as the others have said, it could have been covered with anything else within the last 110 years.
Why do you say definitely wood?

 

[ismellburning]

Why do you say definitely wood?

Highly scientific method i.e. knocking on it. Doesn't feel dense like plaster and lath, feels to me like a single wooden board. Looks like it too although I expect that doesn't come across in my ropy photo...

Were you away when they did history icon_lol.gif

You've got me there I must admit. I guess that date would make it Edwardian, then?

 

[ismellburning]

Well don't I look foolish - it's plaster & lath, like everyone on here said

Cheers all!

 

[TheVictorian]

I'm just happy that I was right all along!