Crack in ceiling (flat)

ajp166

It’s an old flat and over the years there have been leaks from the above flats. Above this room is another flat but not the bathroom but it’s not far from this location. Any thoughts if this is serious. Today I contacted the freeholder and she said only if it’s water damage it would be covered by building insurance, wear and tear isn’t, not sure how wear and tear occurs on  a ceiling. 

neilmcl

Those cracks look quite significant, you can clearly see whole sections of plaster coming away from the ceiling. Needs sorting before a big chuck drops down.

FreeBear

ajp166 said: Today I contacted the freeholder and she said only if it’s water damage it would be covered by building insurance, wear and tear isn’t, not sure how wear and tear occurs on  a ceiling. 

With such an ornate coving, I suspect you have a lath & plaster ceiling there. When it gets wet, the wood swells and breaks the nibs of plaster holding the ceiling up. In time, the nails used to secure the laths to the joists above start to rust. End result, is the ceiling starts to crack, and chunks of plaster fall down.

Water has a nasty habit of tracking across a ceiling and taking the easiest route down - Even if the leaks above were away from the affected ceiling, water could have found a way through.  The difficulty would be proving that the leaks have caused this section of ceiling to fail.