METALWORK IN SUSPENDED CEILING CREAKING

softlad

Hi,
all the ceilings in our new house have been suspended to the concrete slabs with metal fixing, however the one in the sitting room creaks and grinds whenever there is windy weather outside and as we live in the north of the country during the winter thats a fair amount of the time, the reason it does so is because of the chimney in the sitting room the displacement of air seems to move the ceiling. obviously the problem is there is not enough strength or support up there to fix - stop movement, but as its finished we now live in the house and everything is perfect I need a remedy that doesnt involve pulling down a ceiling. anyone any ideas, thanks.

sydthebeat

softlad wrote: »

Hi,
all the ceilings in our new house have been suspended to the concrete slabs with metal fixing, however the one in the sitting room creaks and grinds whenever there is windy weather outside and as we live in the north of the country during the winter thats a fair amount of the time, the reason it does so is because of the chimney in the sitting room the displacement of air seems to move the ceiling. obviously the problem is there is not enough strength or support up there to fix - stop movement, but as its finished we now live in the house and everything is perfect I need a remedy that doesnt involve pulling down a ceiling. anyone any ideas, thanks.

put an (insert) stove in the fireplace instead of an open fire

softlad

thanks for that, thought about one, have also noticed that a quick movement of the door also makes it move, the stove that I saw only fitted the same companies fireplace, an expensive solution seeing as we spent a fair bit on the fireplace thats in.

sydthebeat

what did the company who installed it say?
without naming them please

mfceiling

It needs to be properly fixed to the walls right around the room and as such each stage is fixed and supported from the last stage.

Unfortunately the only remedy is to open up the plasterboard and shine a torch into the void to see if it is not attached at the walls........or as syd says change the stove.

Edit ^^ i didn't install it for the OP!!

softlad

rang the guy, hes still a going concern and working, he said hed take a look tomorrow evening, what I fear is like everyone else theres little else can be done except open the ceiling the only place I can open it is under the ceiling rose that will be that screwed then. About the only area I could take down and be able to inspect whats going on. ive never seen a good patched up ceiling anywhere before, some fix may have come out of the slab god knows, and as I said im reluctant to open anything in the room, I have thought would it be possible to vent into the ceiling to counteract the vaccum or to remove a couple of blocks on the outside walls and pump the void with foam or something similar, that would stop the suction, still scratching me head

BryanF

softlad wrote: »

rang the guy, hes still a going concern and working, he said hed take a look tomorrow evening, what I fear is like everyone else theres little else can be done except open the ceiling the only place I can open it is under the ceiling rose that will be that screwed then. About the only area I could take down and be able to inspect whats going on. ive never seen a good patched up ceiling anywhere before, some fix may have come out of the slab god knows, and as I said im reluctant to open anything in the room, I have thought would it be possible to vent into the ceiling to counteract the vaccum or to remove a couple of blocks on the outside walls and pump the void with foam or something similar, that would stop the suction, still scratching me head

am i missing something? its a ceiling! vents? blocks?? - cover the furniture/carpet and get the ceiling redone! get your man to pay for it or at least bargain him down to free labour!

L driver

Get a long boroscope and have a look through the rose, a simple solution might be coving with a lick of tec 7 to ceiling coving junction if movement is there. The crew doing the slabbing should have seen this movement at the time!! Poor work.. but this is Ireland.

the keen edge

mfceiling wrote: »

It needs to be properly fixed to the walls right around the room and as such each stage is fixed and supported from the last stage.

Unfortunately the only remedy is to open up the plasterboard and shine a torch into the void to see if it is not attached at the walls........or as syd says change the stove.

Edit ^^ i didn't install it for the OP!!

I really doubt the source of the noise is from the fixing of the perimeter ceiling channel to the perimeter walls.
Unless a absolute horrendous job was done, the noise resulting from a problem at this junction would be minimal.
Severe cracking at the wall to ceiling junction would be observed if this was so. Is this the case OP?.

IMO the cause of audible creaking is more than likely due to careless fixing of the steel hangers, carrying the primary support channel, to the precast concrete flooring.

Preempting claims to the contrary!: if the 6mm steel anchor fastening the steel hangers to the precast concrete is fixed either: underneath and along the hollow region or; underneath and along the steel rebar within: this fixing is prone to failure.

mfceiling

The 6a perimeter channel needs to be fixed properly.....a few missing shots and it could rub up and down against the blockwork.

A hanger could have been shot fixed up and has "come away"...

Creaking noises could be difficult to source?....hope you get it sorted OP

the keen edge

mfceiling wrote: »

The 6a perimeter channel needs to be fixed properly.....a few missing shots and it could rub up and down against the blockwork.

A hanger could have been shot fixed up and has "come away"...

Creaking noises could be difficult to source?....hope you get it sorted OP

Do some contractors fix the hangers to the hollow core by Hilti nails?. This method will certainly fail.

softlad

thanks for the replies, got the original man in , happens to be a good bloke, suppose he was relieved at my approach to get it sorted rather than the blame game, however I have a fairly large ceiling rose up, were going to take that down to gain access and then hes going to try and remedy the probem from there,I admit space will be difficult but ill give it a go, I do have an inspection camera as well. I want to minimise the disruption, no one has mentioned coming across this problem before even after all the fly by night operators that were about in the boom times

mfceiling

Saw a guy do it before in apartments in drogheda.

I got the job of coming behind him to repair the failed hangers.

Proper fixing is a 6x40 dbz hammer in fixing....trade price €5-€6 a box of 100...easily covers a house.

Short cuts come back to bite you...

the keen edge

mfceiling wrote: »

Saw a guy do it before in apartments in drogheda.

I got the job of coming behind him to repair the failed hangers.

Proper fixing is a 6x40 dbz hammer in fixing....trade price €5-€6 a box of 100...easily covers a house.

Short cuts come back to bite you...

How do you go about fixing that problem, I'd say its a nightmare of a situation?.

I was/am a carpenter, a building contractor I use to do the chippie work for starting installing heat recovery systems in the houses he was doing, to accommodate the duct work he required suspended ceiling whereas prior to this I was lathing them. So that's how I go involved with them.

Pretty early on I learnt that the fixing of the hangers to the hollowcore, was as you put it, something that could come back to haunt you, from then on I would swing out my own body weight from each hanger I fixed for piece of mind!.

mfceiling

the keen edge wrote: »

How do you go about fixing that problem, I'd say its a nightmare of a situation?.

I was/am a carpenter, a building contractor I use to do the chippie work for starting installing heat recovery systems in the houses he was doing, to accommodate the duct work he required suspended ceiling whereas prior to this I was lathing them. So that's how I go involved with them.

Pretty early on I learnt that the fixing of the hangers to the hollowcore, was as you put it, something that could come back to haunt you, from then on I would swing out my own body weight from each hanger I fixed for piece of mind!.

Had to strip out plasterboard and drill new hangers to support it.

He was on price and was paid well and was long gone.

I did a house last week in county down and my arm was nearly hanging off from drilling holes and beating in hangers...but at least its done right!!

credd

@softlad did you ever manage to fix or improve the creaking? I could have written your post word for word! Would appreciate any tips you can share!