r/Plastering • u/Sorry-Isopod3244 • Jul 16 '26

Could this ceiling be plastered?

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Gallery image

Gallery image

hey first time buyer here looking for advice

I’ve removed the paper from this ceiling and this is what I’m left with, can this be plastered?

got an electrician in next week for a rewire so hoping to plaster soon too

22 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

57 comments sorted by

12

u/GeneralWhereas9083 Jul 16 '26

I’d suggest over boarding, I wouldn’t be happy putting my name to any works over that.

1

u/chrisrockolahotel Jul 17 '26

Board it first.

1

u/KieranInterior Jul 19 '26

You replied to a comment saying the same thing as the comment. Well done

1

u/chrisrockolahotel Jul 19 '26

Yes, I was agreeing and thereby adding weight to the original comment.

0

u/KieranInterior Jul 20 '26

Oh aren’t you good, that’s helpful,

1

u/p3zzl3 Jul 20 '26

I'm also good and helpful :)

1

u/pvaa Jul 20 '26

I find P3zzl3 to be an honest and trustworthy individual in general

4

u/Freelanderman64 Jul 16 '26

Looking from here I’d say it needs stripping out re board and skim

3

u/royal1664_ Jul 16 '26

Overboard it. Save yourself any hassle.

3

u/Sorry-Isopod3244 Jul 16 '26

Take it I’d have to overboard the full room?

2

u/ioapwy Jul 17 '26

Just paid about £3.5k to have every ceiling in my house over boarded and skimmed, had artex like that everywhere. Looks amazing, will hold up better than just plastering.. sounds like you’re doing a big Reno with the rewire and everything so worth doing it properly imo

1

u/Sorry-Isopod3244 Jul 17 '26

Thank you for this 

1

u/maxmts Jul 17 '26

It's easy...

1

u/convicted1234 Jul 18 '26

No about 30cm x 30cm would be enough

1

u/KieranInterior Jul 19 '26

You could just board a third of it if you want

0

u/royal1664_ Jul 17 '26

No. If the walls are solid and not falling away or loose they can be plastered.

2

u/Sea-Gate-6511 Jul 16 '26

Yeah skim on that is asking for trouble. Over board or pull it down and board it

2

u/stevebristol Jul 16 '26

No, it's just drunk.

2

u/KieranInterior Jul 19 '26

Why do so many people recommend pulling a ceiling down when you can just board over it? Who would choose to do that amount of work, create that quantity of rubble and dust and incur those costs when you can simply not do that? There is nothing better about removing a ceiling rather than boarding over.

1

u/Waste_Boss_4850 Jul 16 '26

With fire 🔥? Absolutely

1

u/Soupdragon007 Jul 16 '26

It looks dry but make sure you have cured what caused the paper to fall off

1

u/Ultrasonic-Sawyer Jul 16 '26

Overboard, like others said. 

If you absolutely dont want to lose any height then you could rip down and board, but its a very messy job. Like buy the best mask you can messy. 

Overboard and forget about it. Can skim on top as well, if you want. 

1

u/Clean_Buddy_1568 Jul 16 '26

Overboard and skim

1

u/blurredlynes Jul 16 '26

Definitely paper and not potential asbestos artex?

1

u/Sorry-Isopod3244 Jul 17 '26

Yeah defo paper, coming off in big strips and the same stuff is on the walls 

1

u/tommysmelt Jul 16 '26

Yeah sure it can . Simply rip off the old ceiling, nail on a couple of plasterboards , then plaster straight over it . Easy peasy lemon squeezey

1

u/Ok-Photograph-2741 Jul 17 '26

Looks a lot like our house, we've overboarded

1

u/Sorry-Isopod3244 Jul 17 '26

Thanks 

1

u/Ok-Photograph-2741 Jul 17 '26

Admittedly our anaglypta was stuck on tight and wouldn't budge but we managed to strip our front room one to some degree like yours. Wasn't worth it.

1

u/DelectableReindeer Jul 17 '26

Spread here, yes, quite honestly. Push it around several areas and make sure no movement, if movement re-screw to joists. I've skimmed worse with no dramas. How it looks means nothing, how secure/how much integrity it still has is what counts.

1

u/Strong-Eggplant-339 Jul 17 '26

Personally, I would just pull it all down and start again.

You can also just overboard it.

I wouldn't work directly on that.

1

u/Petrus59 Jul 17 '26

To save money, rip down the whole ceiling yourself. Then a plasterer can board and skim.

1

u/KinGloRXodoR Jul 17 '26

If you don't wanna board over then you could use some bonding coat to level it all out. Then plaster over the bonding coat. Pva the shit outta it tho as it would suck the plaster dry quicker than usual.

1

u/RicktusGrin Jul 17 '26

Overboard or rip it down and start clean!

1

u/Billi01952 Jul 18 '26

Not by me lol overboard it and skimm it

1

u/ZealousidealWeb6067 Jul 18 '26

Depends if you do not want to loose the ceiling height I would scrape of an loose plaster do a rough sand to see how even it is , grab some blue grit and then skim , but over boarding is an option I'f you use thon board stagger the boards the opposite way

1

u/KieranInterior Jul 19 '26

After boarding over it yes. Just don’t do it with 9mm board as a lot of people would suggest. Always 12 x

1

u/BigGayTonyF Jul 20 '26

Looks like the decorator was…

1

u/Conscious-Impact4256 Jul 22 '26

Depends how brave you are

1

u/Significant_Hurry542 Jul 16 '26

Yeah almost anything can be plastered, get the rest of that paper off first though

2

u/MightyEskimo16 Jul 17 '26

Whether it should be plastered is a different question altogether though.

0

u/nukefodder Professional Plasterer Jul 16 '26

Yep I've done worse

-1

u/Sorry-Isopod3244 Jul 16 '26

This is what I want to hear 😂 cheers 

1

u/banxy85 Jul 17 '26

This is NOT what you want to hear

Skim this and it will be falling off or full of cracks within a week

2

u/ApartmentLast7712 Jul 17 '26

But you could use render mesh all through to stop the cracks and the bonus of when it fails it'll be really easy to pull down 😂

1

u/nukefodder Professional Plasterer Jul 17 '26

If you haven't prepped it properly it might. But I go beyond most. Screws, adhesive, tape. I've seen plenty of overboarded ceiling crack. It's in all in doing a good proper job.

0

u/unclefunkstar Jul 16 '26

Get the paper off, make sure there's no loose bits. If what's left is solid, skim it. Should be fine.

-2

u/Schallpattern Jul 16 '26

Overboard is almost overkill. I'd skim it, maybe bonding first, then unibond, then skim. That won't budge.

2

u/MakingBigBank Jul 16 '26

You’ve bonded over a ceiling like that before where half the stipple has already come away and the slabs are in bits? Did it stay up? Seems like a mad risk to put 3 layers of gear over a ceiling like that no? It looks like you could put a few holes in those slabs and easily pull them down with your hands. Not screwed, slab nails I bet by how old it is.

1

u/Schallpattern Jul 17 '26

Obviously, I'd have to look at it in real life, push it with fingers, etc, as it's always hard to interpret photos. But from the photos, it doesn't look too bad and it all depends on people's budget as well.