Half the ceiling in the downstairs room I use as a study fell down yesterday. I was in bed about 06:50 and I heard a noise. Then another noise. Then a big thud. It sounded like snow sliding off a roof. Now I know our summer has been disappointing, but snow in August? I got up and had a look out the front and back of my house. Nothing untoward to be seen. I heard another noise whilst doing this so I went downstairs into the kitchen. Nothing there either. Then it dawned on me; the back room! When I opened the door I was greeted with this:
The reason that the back room had dawned on me was that the ceiling in there had been damaged by water in the past. About 12 years ago I got a lot of work done to my house. The electrical wiring was all replaced, the plumbing was replaced, about 80% of the wall and ceiling surfaces were ripped off and replaced with new plastered ones, new doors and door frame throughout, plus I got new wooden floors everywhere except kitchen, bathroom and stairs. The only room that didn’t get a lot of work done to it was the downstairs back room that I now use as a study. It was where all the furniture and stuff from the other rooms was piled when the work was being done.
During the plumbing work there was a leak that soaked the ceiling of that room. It had a huge bulge in it for a few weeks after that as it dried. The ceiling had paper over the plaster and as it all dried the bulge diminished, but never went away. I put repair tape over the joins of the paper and painted over the whole thing. And it survived. Until yesterday when gravity finally won the battle. I’m just glad it was at 06:50 and not when I was sitting there!
I’m making a spare bedroom into a new study today. I’ll take the opportunity to get the downstairs back room gutted and plastered anew like the rest of the house was last decade.