What happens when the ceiling falls down round your ears?

[scotgal]

My daughter has just phoned to say that a big chunk of their living room ceiling has fallen down when they were at work! The ceiling is comprised of the old fashioned lath and plaster and when she phoned her insurance company to see if she could claim they wouldn't entertain a claim saying it was normal wear and tear and they only have a "standard Buildings and Contents policy. Can this be right or do you have to insure ceilings separately...?

[Ethel]

It is normal wear and tear and won't be covered on normal insurance policies.

You don't insure ceilings separately but you can insure for accidental damage to ceilings, although this isn't the case here.

[firetracie]

'Fraid Ethel's right scotgal. Unless it's been caused by a water leak from a storage tank or roof it's not classed as accidental damage.

If it's damp they should check for a source. I had a similar problem in a previous house which affect the ceilings and decoration in a bedroom and bathroom. Turned out it was from a leak in the roof - that was wear and tear. But I paid for the roof repair and the insurance covered the repairs to the ceilings and redecoration of the rooms so it wasn't too bad.

[Jillius]

When I was little we lived in a huge house that was hundreds of years old and one day me and my brother were jumping up and down on my parents bed when the whole lot crashed through down into the living room !

I always thought that house insurance covered everything that went wrong in a house. It certainly should when you look at what you pay ! I must check my policy and see what ours says.

[Ethel]

Your daughter's main concern is to find out WHY a patch of her ceiling fell down. They don't fall down for nothing unless it is just a case of the old plaster crumbling away through age.

If that is the case, she should make sure her other ceilings are in good repair.

[scotgal]

Thank you all for your replies and so quick! My daughter had in the mean time been reading the small print on her policy and you are all of course correct in what you say. That's why I like answerbank so much-if you have a genuine query you get genuine answers. I have to say that I haven't discounted the thought that my 4 year old (boisterous) grandson might have had a hand in it as his bedroom is above the ceiling that came down!!!! Anyway thanks again.

[scotgal]

Ethel I've just read your second reply and thought I'd let you know it could just be the age of the house-it's a very old traditional granite house hence the lath and plaster throughout but we don't know if the ceiling had maybe been repaired before because the people who were in it before had a very slapdash attitude when it came to diy and their were many problems when my daughter and son in law came to renovate the bathroom etc. However she's going to get a joiner in to assess the damage and see whether it might be appropriate to replace the whole thing. In my experience it not really worth trying to patch up that sort of medium because it'll probably go somewhere else. She's very philosophical about it though and says it's agood job she's working full time!

[Ethel]

Pulling the old ceiling down will be very messy, but it shouldn't be horrendously expensive to replace with nice, sensible plasterboard.

:)