As most first-time buyers, we bought an old cheap house to do up
As the terraced house was in a regional development area, we got a grant for a new damp-proof course, roof and rewiring, but the work didn't cover everything.

Like, for example, the collapse of part of the kitchen ceiling, under the old chimney, which had been truncated at the first floor level. The building work had vibrated the house so much that an 18" square piece of ceiling had fallen down.

Of course, the builders denied responsibility, so I had to fix it myself or get an expensive tradesman in. Not being able to afford the latter, and not feeling like dropping a whole, century-old ceiling and replacing the lot, my brain entered bodge mode.

First, the hole was stuffed with plastic and bits plywood nailed across the joists to stop any water dripping down the chimney from attacking the new ceiling, then a 6' x 3' offcut of plasterboard was nailed under the old ceiling across the width, but not the length of the galley kitchen.

This created a section of ceiling that was half an inch lower and with an obvious edge. So, how to disguise it? A light-bulb went on over my head and I bought some lengths of 3" softwood and some dark oak woodstain.

These were used to create fake beams of the type that the house would never have had in its prime. One of the hollow "beams" was butt up to the lowered section of ceiling and, looking down the room it disguised the step in the ceiling line pretty well. The other beam was then put up across the other half of the ceiling to balance the look.

A few months later, I sold the house to a mate who went on to live there for about five years, but I err... 'forgot' to mention the ceiling bodge, and I've never had the courage to ask him if it held or failed.
( Snappyuk gets BIGGER with free sample., Thu 10 Mar 2011, 14:08, 1 reply)

A freind of mine...
... noticed a bulge gradually appearing in his kitchen ceiling.

It seems that the previous owner had taken out the chimney on the ground floor but not removed anything higher and not supported what was left.

Mercifully, it was not the chimney that was trying to come through the ceiling, but it was a large concrete slab that had formed the hath of the upstairs fireplace and had been left supported only by plasterboard between the joists. Needless to say, this was removed, large mounts of steel added and prayers said for nobody having received a paving slab to the head during breakfast.
( Ugi , it's a game of give and cake, Thu 10 Mar 2011, 15:13, closed)