Ceiling Repairs in South Perth

The foreshore and the Mill Point peninsula are dominated by apartments, from 1970s walk-up blocks to recent high-rise towers. Their ceilings are plasterboard on furring channel under concrete slabs, and the problems they have are almost always water related: a leak from the unit above, a failed shower waterproofing membrane, or condensate from a ducted air conditioning unit sitting in the ceiling space. The repair is simple enough once the source is fixed, but the strata process around it is not always.

Away from the river, South Perth is largely 1950s to 1970s brick-and-tile housing on generous blocks, much of it now renovated or extended. The original ceilings in these homes are plasterglass, fixed to timber joists with glue and strapping, and after sixty years the fixings are tired. A bowed lounge ceiling, cracks running out from the corners of the room and a cornice that no longer sits tight against the ceiling are the usual signs.

There is also a scattering of older character homes, particularly around the Angelo Street end and in the streets near the zoo, with higher ceilings, run cornice and in some cases fibrous plaster that is nearing a century old. These need a gentler hand and a decision about whether the original can be saved.