Suspended MF ceiling, possible problems ?

[trogg]

Hi, I've had a MF ceiling installed in my kitchen, while they were screwing the angle brackets into the joists the screws broke a few times.
What worries me is if the screws break that easy then how secure is the ceiling ?
There are about 12 brackets each held in place by one black plasterboard screw, ceiling is 5m x 3m .

What do you think ?

[ayjay]

Plasterboard screws are not really intended for structural use, they can break when used for such purposes as you already noticed. It's laziness and convenience on the part of the fitters, and ideally they should be replaced with proper wood screws.

Having said that, I'm sure it happens a lot without ceilings randomly falling down all over the country. I wouldn't worry overmuch about it, the screws that were overstressed as they were screwed in are already broken (and presumably replaced) and those remaining are unlikely to give up now.

I worked on a new football stadium a few years back and there were no screws available on site that weren't plasterboard screws, (plugs were hard to get hold of too), there's dodgy builders everywhere, these ones were only interested in it being "fit for the purpose" at the handover, (I heard that so much that I can still hear it in the Weegie accent as he said it), that included all the bars being built from standard mdf, you can imagine what they were like after being awash with beer and the floors being mopped a few times, but they were fine at the handover.

[Job and Knock]

The reason for using drywall screws is that they are designed to drill through thin metal framing - wood screws patently are not (and can result in injury unless you pre-drill).

As to failure, a suspended ceiling if it fails will generally fail progressively, not all in one go, so there is generally little to worry about (gauged from having dismantled enough of them over the years before installing suspended ceilings - they can take some ripping-out! So unless your ceiling is showing obvious signs of bowing I wouldn't worry overly much

[trogg]

Thanks both for your replies, you've put my mind at rest a little.

I did do some pull-ups on it before the plasterboard went on :) and it felt very secure, I think that the total weight is about 150kg and it's tapered board that's just being filled.