We're doing a major rennovation of a large victorian property, and in
the first mishap in a few months, last night a foot went through the
neighbours ceiling. Luckily she wasn't in bed at the time; unluckily
that part of the ceiling hadn't yet been cleaned of dust & debris and
so that all ended up downstairs, although half an hour with Numatic
Charles and the mess was pretty much gone.

The question now is how best to repair the hole satisfactorily and
without too much expense, and advice from the group is most welcome
here! Ideas that came to mind so far a

1) squaring off the hole, putting new plasterboard for the hole,
applying new skim and painting. Not sure if this is feasible/advisable.

2) fitting new plasterboard under the entire existing ceiling, skim and
paint.

3) a suspended ceiling. We had already looked at various sound
insulation options, and this may be an opportunity to deploy something,
but cost is an issue and this was obviously an unexpected event.

Reading already, one post suggested that putting new plasterboard under
the existing ceiling may not meet fire regs, although not all aspects
of work on the property need to meet current regs due to its age, but
I've not checked with our build control officer yet.

All advice and experience most welcome here.

Nick