We have just bought a house and now notice that the ceiling is wavy or bulging in parts. How serious is this.

Question

I am not sure if I have described the problem properly. When you look at the ceiling, it just looks wavy, it goes up and down.

Answer 1

I would recommend you contact a drywall contractor who can look at your ceiling and investigate the problem. If it is the result of a poor drywall job done prior to you owning the house, perhaps the drywall contractor can re-texture the ceiling to get rid of the wavyness and bulges. When we moved into our 35 year old townhouse, we had the popcorn from the ceiling removed by our drywall contractor. He textured the ceiling to make it look like a nice and smooth ceiling.

Answer 2

The sheetrock is nailed or screwed to wooden joists. The joists are at regular intervals and they all run in one direction. Does it look like the waviness is lined up in that way? Sometimes the joists were are not installed evenly, so the sheetrock bends to conform to the unevenness.

If that is the problem, you have a few options. You can take down the old sheetrock and have the joists "furred" so they are all even. This just means that a thin strip of wood will be attached to every joist that's too high, to create a level base for the sheetrock.

Or you can change your lighting so as not to emphasize the unevenness. A central ceiling fixture can really make an imperfect ceiling look terrible. If you use table lamps and floor lamps, even torchieres, the waviness might not be noticeable.

Answer 3

Either the previous owner had a serious plumbing problem and repaired it, or you have a leaky roof or pipes.

I live in a 25 year old condo that is identical to 100 other units. Most of my neighbors had to replace their ceilings as well as repair their plumbing.

I was fortunate that I replaced/repaired my fixtures and checked my roof when I did, because (so far) i avoided expensive repairs.

I think you should do the same.

And I'd raise H*LL with the county inspector and real estate company that missed it and the previous owner for deceptive business practices!

Answer 4

It sounds like there may have been some water damage in the past, especially if this is a 2 storey house, could have been a leaking toilet upstairs or something.
If it is water damage then there is almost certainly to be mould spores, ideally the ceilling should be torn down and replaced.
However this should have been found during the inspection of your home (if you paid for one) before you bought it and thus the inspector would be liable for the cost for not finding this problem and authorizing the purchase.

Answer 5

It may just be cosmetic, when they put joists and/or trusses 24" on center instead of 16" on center sometimes 1/2 thick drywall sags between supports. Some codes say you must use 5/8" in that situation.

Answer 6

If the house is new get the contractor back, it sounds like they didn't secure the drywall properly.

Answer 7

how old is the home?
is there yellow marks?
lots of plaster on the homes 75 plus years old are just working lose you can replace with sheetrock.
i see lots of homes with yellow water marks on the buldges if this is the case fix the leak b4 you fix.

Answer 8

This might be an optical illusion. Ask someone else to watch it and see whether he's seeing the same as you