Ceiling Repairs in Melville

The City of Melville takes in Melville itself, Alfred Cove, Attadale, Bicton, Applecross and Ardross along the river, and Myaree and Palmyra inland. The bulk of the housing is post-war brick and tile from the 1950s through to the late 1970s, built on a bigger block than you would get today, with plasterglass ceilings fixed to timber joists with plaster wads and strapping. The river-facing streets have seen a lot of knock-down rebuilds in the last twenty years, so a 1960s home with original ceilings can sit next to a two-storey rebuild with plasterboard throughout.

The original ceilings in these homes are a fibrous plaster sheet, often with a cove cornice and sometimes a simple pattern in the lounge. They were hung by hand with hessian and plaster straps up to the joists, and that is the part that fails. The plaster itself is usually sound; the straps dry out, the wads crack, and the sheet gradually lets go of the roof frame.

Melville roofs are mostly concrete or terracotta tile, now well past their first re-bedding and re-pointing. Valley gutters and ridge capping let water in during the winter fronts, and the stain shows up on the ceiling below weeks later. Near the river the air is a little more humid than inland, which slows drying and brings mould into the picture if a leak is left.