Can you damage ceiling while walking in the roof space?

Hey guys,

Just had a carpenter attending to quote a few things. He got into the roof space and while walking in the roof space, I could here a crunching sound ununderneath. We had some cosmetic cracks in the ceilling even before, but now they got significantly bigger after he walked through the roof. Is this of any concern? See pictures below.

Can you actually damage the ceilling by walking through the roof space? I'm curious to know as I'd like to get up there every now and then.

Cheers

 

you can even fall through it if you step in the wrong place, and take the whole ceiling down with you.

one would expect that a carpenter knows where it's safe to walk though

 

Oh wow! I probably wont get into the roof then.

Are the cracks in the pictures above of any concern?

 

visually - yes. from safety perspective - i don't know. it really depends on what's happening with the ceiling joists/battens. it kinda looks like those cracks are surrounding one sheet of plasterboard

 

The middle of a joist should be able to support one person without damaging anything. He may have briefly stepped on the plaster, enough to crunch but not break.

I suggest that you go into the cavity and see where the cracks are in relation to the joists and if anything is seriously amiss. take measurements from the walls to locate the cracks. If the cavity lights are off then you may see light from underneath. If the plaster looks sound then it can be fixed fairly easily with nails, filler and perhaps mesh.

If the joists are sound then the carpenter probably missed his footing.

When I'm in the roof cavity I always have a light plugged into the mains on a long cable and a head torch. If the job is distant from the access hatch I often have a second mains light in the middle. These lights allow me to see the joists very clearly, and that is where I step. The head torch is in case the power fails. With care a roof cavity is quite safe.

 

i usually just ask sparkies to put lights on each end of the roof cavity that i can turn on from the closest switch to the man hole. saves a lot of headache when you need to get up there

 

Thanks guys. It might have not been the best day for the tradesman, exiting the manhole he cracked the side of it. He glued it temporarily and will come back to fix.

 

Looks like he was Pasquale'd.

 

On some renos I have added lights in the ceiling cavity. Mostly though the cost to do this is not worth it - there are few visitors. I have also had a power point put in next to the access hatch.

The broken edge of the access hatch is unusual, suggesting that there may be a subtle flaw in the design or build. The damage looks bad but should be easy to fix. It may be possible to remove the entire broken bit, add glue and put it back. making the breaks a little wider will allow filler to be put in, Sand, fill, repeat, paint. I've done this sort of thing to cornices and ceilings. The filler is invariably a very close shade to the white paint. Instead of painting the job I let dirt accumulate - the joins are invisible.

 

The first photo looks like where the sheets were joined and just moved over time with the ceilings.
Maybe a lot of the damage has been caused by water damage from the roof.
With walking inside any ceilings make sure you only walk on the frame- never near on on a ceiling that already has cracking .
Lighting as others have mentioned is important as so is always wearing a high quality mask and eye protection..

 

This reminds me of the insulation batts scheme where every man and his dog jumped in for a quick buck. Separate installers at my parents and grandparents places managed to put their feet through each of respective ceilings

 

Ventilation - DIY thread
https://www.reddit.com/r/DIYUK/comments/p2ego7/like_a_complete_moron_ive_put_my_foot_through_the/