01
Ceilings
New ceilings, textured ceilings covered over, sagging old lath and plaster taken down, and a flat level surface that does not show every light in the room.
in short
AltHome replaces, overboards and repairs ceilings across Kerry, Cork and Limerick. A textured or artex ceiling is usually overboarded with new plasterboard and skimmed, which is clean and leaves the old coating undisturbed; ceilings coated before about 2000 are tested for asbestos before they are ever sanded or taken down. A room takes one to two days, then three to five days drying before paint.
what decides it
Cover it, or take it down
Most ceiling jobs start with a textured or artex finish somebody wants gone. There are two honest ways to deal with that. Overboarding means fixing new plasterboard straight through the old ceiling into the joists and skimming it, which is clean, quick, adds almost no height loss and, importantly, leaves the old material undisturbed. Taking it down is dustier and slower but gives you access to the void, which matters if you want insulation, new wiring, downlights or a sound layer between floors. There is a safety point here that we do not skip: textured coatings applied before about 2000 in Ireland can contain a small amount of asbestos. It is harmless while it is intact and sealed. It is not harmless when it is dry sanded or scraped. So we never sand an old textured ceiling. If it has to come down rather than be covered, it is tested first and removed by the right people. Anyone offering to sand your artex flat for a few hundred euro is doing something they should not be doing. Old lath and plaster is the other common job. If it is springy underfoot from above, cracked in lines and dropping dust, the key between the plaster and the laths has failed and no amount of filling will hold it up. That comes down, the joists are checked and levelled with battens where they have bowed, and a new boarded and skimmed ceiling goes back. Levelling is the part people notice afterwards: joists in an old house are rarely straight, and a ceiling that follows them will show every dip once a light is on near it.
Downlights, insulation and the holes nobody thinks about
Every downlight is a hole in the ceiling, and on a top floor that is a hole in the airtight layer letting warm damp air into a cold attic. Fire rated, sealed fittings and proper hoods deal with it, and the positions are set out before the board goes up, not cut in afterwards wherever a cable happens to land. If the ceiling is between two floors, that is also the cheapest moment in the life of the house to put acoustic insulation in and stop hearing the upstairs bathroom in the sitting room.
the work
What is included in a ceiling job?
- Check what the existing ceiling is, and test a pre 2000 textured finish before anything is disturbed.
- Clear and sheet the room, and protect anything that cannot be taken out of it.
- Take down the old ceiling where it has to go, and get the debris straight outside.
- Level the joists with battens, and fit insulation or acoustic quilt in the void while it is open.
- Board it, set out the downlight positions first and seal every penetration.
- Tape, skim and leave it flat, then clean the room out and tell you when it can be painted.
4 steps
How long does it take to replace or overboard a ceiling?
You get in touch
Send a photo of the ceiling and the room size, and tell us roughly how old the house is. We answer the same day.
We come and look
We check the existing finish, press the ceiling for movement and look at the void where we can. Then a price for covering and a price for replacing.
We do it
Sheeted, contained and usually finished in a day or two per room. We take the waste with us.
You sign it off
We check it with a light held flat against the surface, fill anything that shows, and tell you when to paint.
next door
What goes around it
A ceiling is never done on its own. While the room is cleared, these are worth doing in the same visit.
asked
Ceilings: common questions
Can you just skim over my artex?
Sometimes, if the texture is shallow and sound. Deep swirls have to be flattened first, and on a pre 2000 ceiling we will not sand or scrape it. In that case overboarding is the safe answer and often costs little more than the preparation would have.
How much height will I lose?
Overboarding takes about 15 mm off the room, which nobody notices. Battening to level badly bowed joists can take 25 to 40 mm at the low points. If the room is already tight we will measure and tell you the number before you decide.
Can I put downlights in while you are at it?
That is the right time to do it. We set the positions with you before boarding, and the electrician runs the cables in the open void. Fittings go in fire rated and sealed, which keeps the ceiling doing its job.
How much does it cost to replace a ceiling?
Overboarding and skimming costs less than taking a ceiling down, because there is no strip out and far less mess. Taking it down makes sense when you want insulation, wiring or downlights in the void. We price the room after seeing the ceiling and what you want in it.
My ceiling is sagging. Is it dangerous?
It can be. Old lath and plaster that has come away from the laths, or plasterboard that has taken water, can fall without warning. Keep people out from under it and ring us, and we will tell you if it needs taking down straight away.
quote
Get a fixed quote for a ceiling
Tell us the address and how many rooms. We work across Kerry, Cork and Limerick. We ring you back within one working day.
085 220 1422 · info@althome.ie
Written by the AltHome crew. Last reviewed September 2026.