Quick & dirty ceiling repair

[fred]

I've just patched the flat bathroom roof of an ageing rellie.

Water ingress has shot the ceiling, waterlogged fibreboard (remember that?) with an overlay of 10mm polystyrene tiles.

I need to rip this down and replace it with the absolute minimum of effort.

Best fix would be 25mm celotex or polystyrene with PB over but the time and effort involved is excessive so I'm looking for a quick fix.

Taking a view on this, I would be inclined to put up foil backed 25mm celotex, secured with regular screws and penny washers, and finish the surface with an-other cheap textured ceiling finish.

If polystyrene tiles were still available I'd be inclined to slap them over the celotex to make the quick fix but they seem to have disappeared, so is there a current quick and dirty alternative ceiling covering?

Fire risk is slight, the walls are full height ceramic tiled.

[Tabby]

If water's killed the ceiling, its probably killed some of the joists too

NT

[Tim Watts]

Plasterboard is pretty easy to put up over the celotex (it score n' snaps quite cleanly and screws up through the celotex into the joists. You can use small sheets (1800x600) for easier handling.

That would give you a fire resistant finish. If you were good with scrim-taping and filling the joints (use taper edged board) you'd get away with painting it directly. But if you don;t do the filling well, it will look not good.

You could use artex - rollered on thin should give a fairly subtle texture with some experimentation with rollers - then paint. Artex doesn't have to mega-patterned. I've not done this mind - I'm merely supposing it might work. It won't be as nice as a well skimmed ceiling but it should be possible to get "fairly nice" with relatively low effort. There is also an artex pattern that involves using a cloth covered in a plastic bag (IIRC) to give a fairly fine "whirly random" pattern - not pointy, and not strong - doesn't look as dated as some of the artex patterns - seems to be the default for ceilings in some modern houses.

Cheers

Tim

[fred]

Quite possible but not too scary as I should be able to repair from below and it's not stuff that will be visible after the final finish is applied. I'll go down one day to rip the ceiling down and leave it down to let it dry out with a bit of gentle heat and plenty of ventilation befofe returning a few days later to finish.

[fred]

I'm trying to avoid and wet trades work at all. I could cut and put up sheets of celotex, seal the joins, have poly tiles on and clean up in a morning, I wouldn't even need dust sheets.

PB will be at least 2 days, with a lot more stages to reach a final finish and a lot more mess to cleanup

The extra day and a half may not sound much but it all adds up when I count up the number of 'little favours' I'm asked to do in a year.

If I go PB, I am practised enough to get a decent finish first hit with taper edge board.

[Geo]

Decolite Pebble Ceiling Veneer White Polystyrene EAN: 5010824601401

5m roll 600mm wide £6.98

Not used it - so suggestion only.

[fred]

It's a possible, no mention of thickness on their website and a search for decolite elsewhere doesn't go anywhere useful but it's encouraging me to keep looking in this direction, thanks.

Aside: boy do I hate the B&Q website, slow, bloated and a search for ceiling tiles returns a brass pendant lamp and nothing else. Absolutely useless.