Yesterday we had a long conversation about the ceiling in our sitting room. There were cracks in the ceiling plaster when we moved in and we knew it was an issue. We looked at the floor from above to check it was the plaster rather than the whole floor which it was. With that in mind and on the basis that the plaster had been up for the best part of two hundred years, two world wars (and one world cup) it was on the list of things to fix “some time next year”‘. Non-urgent.
Then this evening it fell in.
I was just about to go up and watch some TV but thought I’d go into the garden with the dogs first. Otherwise this would have landed on my head.
As you can see the sofa is now an ex-sofa.
Everything else seems like dust damage only. And there’s a lot of dust which is partly why we hadn’t looked at this before.
Fortunately the cornicing looks OK.
We hadn’t done anything to this room yet so it’s not like it’s ruined all our hard work, but it’s not exactly ideal. Now we just have to figure out the best way to fix it.
klaus and heidi 
Bloody hell! And poor the sofa – such a tragic end. Glad you’re OK though. Yet again the dogs save your life.
I know, I’d like to say they have a sixth sense for danger but I think that might be giving them a bit too much credit. Although I am of course thankful that a large piece of plaster is embedded in the sofa rather than me.
My goodness, that’s a shame. But you’re right– at least the cornice is okay! Is this a repair project you’ll plan on attacking yourself?
This is an excellent resource from the U.S. National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/hps/tps/briefs/brief23.htm This book is also a valuable one to keep in your library as you work on your historic home: http://www.amazon.com/Walls-Molding-Historic-Respectful-Rehabilitation/dp/0471144320
Good luck….
-Huck
Oh no, thank god you were elsewhere.
That’s scary – as ours is doing just the same right over Edie’s bed! You’ve catalysed me to do something about it!
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