Ideas for warped plasterboard ceilings

Renokid

Hi everyone,

My partner and I are renovation novices so bear with. We are looking for some ideas to update plasterboard ceiling in a 1930s house we own.
As you can see there are dips from the original fixtures going into the joists above and then wooden battens to hide the seams. Battens aren't an issue, just looking to rectify the dips and whether all the boards need pulling down or if there is another route. 
Has not been tested for asbestos as of yet. 
Any ideas helpful!
Thanks

Mr.Generous

I'd say new ceiling. Difficult to get a plasterer to sort that and you'd still have the battens. 

Renokid

Mr.Generous said:

I'd say new ceiling. Difficult to get a plasterer to sort that and you'd still have the battens. 

Thanks for your reply @Mr.Generous that's what we were thinking, but wanted to be sure we aren't missing a trick

ic

Are you sure its plasterboard?  A 1930s house would have lath and plaster.  The timber is probably decorative to form a panelled look, rather than to hide joins in plasterboard (after all, you just scrim and skim over - also plasterboard should always be installed staggered and never have four corners meet).

Renokid

ic said:

Are you sure its plasterboard?  A 1930s house would have lath and plaster.  The timber is probably decorative to form a panelled look, rather than to hide joins in plasterboard (after all, you just scrim and skim over - also plasterboard should always be installed staggered and never have four corners meet).

Thanks for the reply @ic. When looking at it from the level above it appears as plaster board, and the nail/screw marks intermittently made us also think it was. But that's a good insight into the way plasterboard should be installed, will have a look this further 

stuart45

I'd get it tested for asbestos first. If OK, and you want to DIY it, take the old one down, then board it out and tape and fill the joints.

Bigphil1474

If it's plasterboard then it's very very unlikely to contain asbestos. Asbestos wasn't used like that. If you are saying 'plasterboard' to mean your ceiling that could be made from anything, then that's different. You can get Asbestos containing insulation board, or cement board, or a few other products such as Artex in a house that contain asbestos, but not usually PB. Plasterboard is basically a chalky substance between some cardboard. I agree with ic above, the battens are probably a decorative feature.

Personally, I would get a plasterer in and see what they say. In our old house we had one room boarded over and the other room needed a completely new ceiling - same time, same plasterer, but he took a look at what was there and decided what was best based on what he'd seen. 

Renokid

Bigphil1474 said:

If it's plasterboard then it's very very unlikely to contain asbestos. Asbestos wasn't used like that. If you are saying 'plasterboard' to mean your ceiling that could be made from anything, then that's different. You can get Asbestos containing insulation board, or cement board, or a few other products such as Artex in a house that contain asbestos, but not usually PB. Plasterboard is basically a chalky substance between some cardboard. I agree with ic above, the battens are probably a decorative feature.

Personally, I would get a plasterer in and see what they say. In our old house we had one room boarded over and the other room needed a completely new ceiling - same time, same plasterer, but he took a look at what was there and decided what was best based on what he'd seen. 

Thanks @b@Bigphil1474. Calling it plasterboard based on what our surveyor also said when inspecting it, but that's good to know. Thanks for the advice on plasterer 

Grenage

That certainly doesn't look like plasterboard.  As mentioned above, almost certainly decorative panelling.

WIAWSNB

As said, if you get a couple of plasters in to quote, they'll soon tell you what that boarding is - it could even be cheap hardboard.
Which rooms have this? What storey is it on? 

Renokid

@WIAWSNB it's on the ground floor, multiple rooms are similar with the buckling..but not all, so suspect parts have maybe been updated at different points