Sagging Ceiling Repair in Perth

Press up on it with a flat palm. If there is any give at all the ceiling is starting to fail, because it should be solid against the structure above.

Two more signs are visible from the floor once you know to look. Lines showing through the surface where the sheets meet, and screw holes starting to appear where the fixings are pulling through.

The other test is to look across the ceiling from the far corner of the room at a low angle rather than from underneath it. From directly below, even a significant sag can read as flat.

A slight, even dip in an older ceiling can usually wait a few weeks. A bulge that is growing, or heavy sagging in one area, should be looked at straight away.

What matters is how fast it has moved rather than how far. A ceiling that has dropped visibly in days is a different problem to one that has sagged slowly for years.

On the worst ones the cornice around the edge of the room is the only thing still holding the ceiling up. That is not a figure of speech, and it is why nobody should be pushing or prodding a badly sagged ceiling to test it.

Plasterglass adhesive failure, in homes built roughly between 1970 and 2000. The sheets were glued to jarrah joists with an adhesive that has since given up.

It is not the only cause. Water damage from a leak weakens the bond far faster, heavy old insulation adds load from above, and a poorly insulated roof space cooks the gypsum through every summer until it goes brittle.

Poor original installation turns up more often than people expect: too few fixings, or screws driven through the paper face. None of it is visible from the room, which is why the answer comes from the roof cavity.

In most cases the existing ceiling can be re-secured rather than replaced. If the sheet is still sound, it gets re-strapped or re-screwed back to the structure.

Replacement is for when the board itself has gone: water through it, mould, or a sag so far advanced that the sheet cracks the moment anything moves it.

What we will not do is force a sagged ceiling back up flat. Plasterboard that has held a curve for years disintegrates when it is pushed, so the repair either holds it where it is or replaces it.

Yes. The repair is set, sanded and left at a paint-ready standard, and we sweep and cart the waste away before we go.

Painting is a separate job and quoted separately rather than buried in the repair price. We can bring a painter in if you would rather it ran as one job.

Being straight about the rest: it is a dirty job and there will be some cleaning left for you. Where new cornice has gone in, the walls will want repainting too.

Yes, we are fully licensed and insured, and every job comes with the price in writing before we start.