dangerous ceilings

[bartholomew]

Hi there

I was wondering if you coud help.

I live in an NHS owned property. 3 days ago a huge part of the ceiling collapsed just in front of me.

I was wondering where I could find something about how often roof and ceilings need to be checked for holes, etc. There must be some kind of standards.

Thanks

Bart

[Theland]

Modern ceilings are plaster board, nailed to the joists and skimmed.
Older ones are lath and plaster, the plaster squeezing between the laths to form hooks that keeps them in place. When these brak off over time, a big piece of plaster will fall down, as happened to you.
If there is any other patches ready to fall, you can detect them by pressing the ceiling with your hand. If the hooks are broken off, you will feel the ceiling give slightly. Then you need to rip down thst bit and get it patched. The alternative is to have the ceiling replace with plasterboard.
If property is rented, get the landlord on to this right away, as the dangers are obvious.