On Thu, 03 Feb 2005 04:36:02 -0800, Ian wrote:

We have a water damaged living room ceiling. The two builders we had
round for quotes tell us that it is a lath and plaster ceiling.
However, today the claims assessor tells us that it is plasterboard.

And here is my quandary: - is there any straightforward way of telling
how the ceiling is constructed? (I couldn't find anything in Google).

Thanks in advance

Ian

Hi

Lift a floorboard above if you can - it's very clear from the upper side
if it's lath+plaster (you'll be able to see laths and curly bits of
plaster).

If that's not possible, probing the ceiling with a small drill shoudl
reveal the truth. Laths have only a small gap between them, so a couple
tiny holes 3/4 inch apart and see if wood dust comes out once you are
1/2-3/4 inch in. Better run a cable detector over the area first though!

If you say it's water damaged, couldn't you dig a bit of plaster out?

Plasterboard is cardboard-coated so you should spot this after going
through the skim plaster.

If it is plasterboard with no skim coat, look at it from an
angle and you might be able to see the long straight joins around the edge
of the boards.

If you have some known ceilings to compare with you might be able to
discern by the sound it makes when tapped - never tried this on ceilings,
except to find loose plaster...

HTH

Timbo