What to do? (Suspended Ceilings)

ninjaBob

I best start by saying I am not looking for legal advice, we have consulted with our Solicitors and we know exactly what action we are taking and we know exactly how far we are willing to take it.

I am currently doing a self build, I brought on one general purpose builder to do the entire build. The only trades that I covered were : Windows, Heating, Electrics, Plumbing and Carpentry.

So the builder was responsible for the entire construction of the house, insulating, slabbing (cozyboards) and plastering the house.

During the middle of the plastering we noticed that all our reveals, several ceilings and most of the walls had serious defects in them. Bellies, Dips, wavy ceiling lines etc. We notified the builder and he made attempts to rectify the problem but to no avail. So he got the boot (we didn't hire the plasterer he did).

So here we are now end of January and we have all the reveals fixed and debating how we tackle ceilings. The ceilings which are visible from the staircase must be replaced as there is such a noticeable hump in the middle. So there is no question about that, the last thing we want is to be walking down our stairs every morning and being reminded of just 1 of many things that went wrong during our build.

My main question relates to suspended ceilings, I've quizzed many engineers on it, as well as many suppliers. From my own digging I have found.

1. The tracking running along the wall is not level
2. The tracks themselves are not level
3. 2x4's were wedged and concealed within the tracking.
4. The slabs are not level

So for argument sake, our room is 4m x 5.5m, There is 25mm in a difference between the corners and over 10mm in a difference going in the other direction.

I have been in talks with the builder and he insists that I do not take down these suspended ceilings.

1. He cannot afford for me to take them down (€7500 and rising)
2. He doesn't believe that suspended ceilings are level
3. He believes that the trades who supply suspended ceilings are misleading me to get the gig.
4. He believes that 25mm is an acceptable tolerance.

So I was wondering if I go to the hassle of taking these ceilings down and run the risk that this builder will never be able to afford to pay me the money to do this. Will I run the risk of still having crap ceilings? Is it possible for an engineer to go in their and get exact figures on how "off" the ceilings are?

I was of the impression that suspended ceilings should have very little variance (obviously when done right). When we stand in our rooms we can see noticeable dips in the corners, around the chimney breasts and light fittings. If we add coving, curtain poles or the likes then we are merely drawing more attention to what a crap job it is.

Cheers

mfceiling

Hi,

First off...sorry that your home has been ruined by the shoddy workmanship.

The suspended ceiling if done correctly shouldn't be off by 25mm over such a small area and i wouldn't accept an answer that it "ok" or whatever.

Properly laser levelled ceilings should have a very little amount of being off level as such.
Working at them regulary you would know when it comes to the last bars going in that something was not right with it.
Look over window/door heads - does it look badly "off level"

It probably isn't a huge job to get right but the plasterboard will have to be taken down and the ceiling would have to be made right.

Hope everything works out for you.

sydthebeat

am i correct in assuming that the existing ceiling has been suspended using timber battens and not metal rails??

this shouldnt happen with a laser levelled ceiling as mfceiling says.....

ninjaBob

Metal tracks run along the walls the length of the room. Then there are rails running between these tracks. (Sorry my terminology is probably way off)

The tracks and railings are not level.

In parts I have noticed 2x4's wedged in placed of the rails, so it was as if he ran out rails or simply couldn't be arsed so slapped up a 2x4 in it's place.

All rooms are rectangle in shape, so there is no complicated block work to deal with. There are no tracks fixed on the gable walls.

Out of interest how frequent should the vertical supports be? What would be the standard spacing for these, as it stands now if you slam the backdoor, the ceilings wobble.

Back to my main question, if I pull these down and have them redone is there any reason why they cannot be level? Is there some type of tolerance that I should be working towards? or should they be level?

sinnerboy

ninjaBob wrote: »

The ceilings which are visible from the staircase must be replaced as there is such a noticeable hump in the middle. Cheers

Thats your answer really . Imagine you were not the builder but the buyer - some years on . Would it put you off ?

ninjaBob

It puts me off right now, as I said to the builder if it were the 100+ year old cottage across the road it would be considered "Character". But because it's a new build it's just considered "****e".

Basically what I want to know is his arguement of:

2. He doesn't believe that suspended ceilings are level
4. He believes that 25mm is an acceptable tolerance.
. He believes that if we take it down and put it back up we will not get it much better.

I just want to be 100% certain that if I take down the suspended ceilings that it is possible to get them correct. (Provided the trade is actually done correctly).

dunlopwellies

The ceilings should be 100% level and more importantly straight. It should not be a problem to rectify this issue if you are replacing the plasterboards and probably the metal studs which carry the ceilings. Small discrepancies can be “ironed out” by bonding the new plasterboards. It may also be possible to bond and/or re-skim the existing ceilings by using some bonding agent such as unibond, SBR etc.

mfceiling

ninjaBob wrote: »

Metal tracks run along the walls the length of the room. Then there are rails running between these tracks. (Sorry my terminology is probably way off)

The tracks and railings are not level.

In parts I have noticed 2x4's wedged in placed of the rails, so it was as if he ran out rails or simply couldn't be arsed so slapped up a 2x4 in it's place.

All rooms are rectangle in shape, so there is no complicated block work to deal with. There are no tracks fixed on the gable walls.

Out of interest how frequent should the vertical supports be? What would be the standard spacing for these, as it stands now if you slam the backdoor, the ceilings wobble.

Back to my main question, if I pull these down and have them redone is there any reason why they cannot be level? Is there some type of tolerance that I should be working towards? or should they be level?

Standard spacing for the hanging angle should be 1200mm - i normally work on less than that just to help with the strength of the ceiling.
There is no way that ceiling should "wobble" when a door slams.