repairing a ceiling

[InTheBeginning2007]

My lounge ceiling has many coats of different finishes and is also badly cracked. There is quite a big span of ceiling and the floor in the bedroom above is a bit flexable, which has caused the cracking over time. The cracks follow the edges of the plasterboards that were originally put up. there is also a dip in the plaster in one place where there was a water leak above.

It has plaster boards, skimmed, painted, wall paper, more paint and then artex on the ceiling.

I am currently removing the artex and wall paper layers, and want a flat ceiling.

Would it be best to board over the ceiling and skim again ( I only have 1.35m ceiling height and dont want to reduce it any more), or is there some way of permanently filling the cracks so they will not come back again.
The other option is to rip everything down and start again, but I think I am likely to see cracks in the new ceiling again within a few years time, or is that not correct.
Thanks.

 

[brist]

Board and reskim

 

[Richard C]

I assume that 1.35m ceiling height is a typo ---- unless you’re all dwarfs!

You can repair/re-scrim/re-skim but if the ceiling is in poor condition, it’s probably easier to re-board & re-skim over the original as brist suggests; 12mm or so isn’t going to make any noticeable difference to the ceiling height. Stagger the board joints (maybe even fix them in the opposite direction to the originals if size of ceiling lends itself) & use extra long screws through the original boards into the joists rather than nails, this will tighten the whole lot up & help avoid future cracks.

 

[roughcaster]

Hi,
I would add one further piece to what Richard C said.He mentioned the word"scrim".I dont know whether he meant the self adhesive tape that is used nowadays,or real JUTE SCRIM.I swear by jute scrim.It is the real mckoy.Using this over the joints in plasterboard,coating the ceiling/walls with bonding coat and then 2 coats of multi-finish will give a far superior,stronger plastered finish, than using self adhesive tape and a couple of coats of multi.There is no comparison.I can't remember the last time I skimmed with just multi-finish on anything.

Roughcaster.

 

[InTheBeginning2007]

Thankyou for the replies.
No, we are not dwarfs, I did mean 2.35m ceiling.

I think I will board it and install new lighting, then call a plasterer in.