Here’s a new one on me. I had a client have a problem with their ceiling (most of one bedroom caved in). Everything was fine at the time of inspection a few months back. Home was built in 1942. Anyway, when I met with the client, the ceiling had drywall attached with fasteners and had the 1/2 inch Stucco (concrete) boards glued to the drywall (not fastened to the joists with fasteners (see photos). This is something I’ve never seen before. My client is about 6’6” and probably weighs 380-400 Lbs. My guess is that he was walking on the floor above and flexed the joists enough to cause a few fasteners to pull through the drywall, then it just cascaded from there.
Has anyone seen anything like this? I’ve seen drywall attached over stucco, but never the other way around.
The first photo is from the inspection and the others are from after it caved in.
Yes the plaster is over the drywall (gypsum). Only the drywall was attached with fasteners. The Rock Lath was adhered to it with glue. I’m sure that if the Rock Lath was attached to the joists with fasteners, this wouldn’t have happened.
Outside of the 90-degree wire mesh corners, the plaster does not have any mechanical fasteners to the rock lath. There is no glue. It adheres just like mudding drywall joints or adding texture. It’s just thicker.
as Jeff said look up rock lath and plaster, which You have in Your pictures, the rock lath is nailed, everything else is troweled on…the rock lath is what You are calling gypsum…
The fasteners only went through the drywall, not all the way through both layers. The heavy mortar-like sheathing did not have fasteners through it, only the drywall.
