Cracks through centre of ceiling on first floor

Hi everyone, new to this forum.

I attended an inspection for a property and found cracks everywhere on the first floor of the building. The ground floor seemed largely ok. Most concerning was a room near the centre of the first floor, with a crack from end-to-end and seemingly extending through into the hallway and other rooms running through the centre of the ceiling. I've attached pictures. Should I run far away?

Appreciate your advice. Thank you!

 

There may be several different causes, have you had a building inspection done?

It could be something as simple as lacking an expansion joint or poor workmanship through to overstressed bottom chord of the trusses with remedies varying from patch and paint through to structural repairs.

Without a B&P, you haven't got much to use as a negotiation chip other than "there's a crack!".

 

This type of straight crack is a crack in the plaster joint between two sheets of plaster.

It looks like someone has tried to fill in one of the cracks (not very skillfully).

Depending on the cause, not necessarily complicated to fix. Depends on whether there is anything structurally wrong or if it’s just normal movement and poor jointing...

The sheets need to be reset with back blocking and use of traditional paper tape or fiberglass jointing tape (not the stick on DIY stuff which is not suitable for ceilings). This can be done by a plasterer without replacing the entire sheets.

Are the rooms with the cracks very large?

Have any of the nails or screws ‘popped’?

 

The gyprock looks like its not attached correctly. Cause needs building inspection. If the roof is spreading it may be a cause - That isnt always that costly either but needs to be identified. If roof trusses are not structurally sound it could add to costs. If its adhesive failure + screws its less a issue and needs to be stabilised. Gyprocker probably best to do the work for best finish. They would likely screwgun the sheets, patch and sand and then tape and fix joints etc.

 

Thanks everyone for the insight. So not necessarily a total lost cause. I'll get a building inspection done ASAP.

 

Looks like someone forgot to use joining tape

 

How old is the property?

From the look, it’s obvious there is stress being applied from somewhere. I’ve seen ceiling joins crack before, normally it’s not full length and not that much of displacement.

Get a inspection done.... even though I think it will be hard to figure out what caused it.