What are my options with this ceiling substructure?

[cornea5116]

We removed the light wooden slats ceiling in our hallway to reveal the substructure.

There is a beam A running the length of the hallway.

Battens B are secured adjacent to beam A.

Battens XY are then secured to the ends of battens B and a batten Z is secured to the middle of batten B and run the length of the hallway.

Battens XY are then connected to the floorboards above the ceiling. To me this seems daft because if you try pulling up floorboards, you end up pulling on the battens and thus the ceiling. But I assume this was done to prevent the battens running along the wall from sagging.

The aim is to install plasterboard, so we need a solution that is stable enough and also at the same level as the existing substructure.

[Grendel]

When you say you removed the light wooden slats I assume you mean plastering laths . It looks like someone has put in a lower ceiling as wallpaper is visible above the timbers. The plasterboard should be able to fix to the same timbers the laths were attached to although they look quite a wide span and I'd personally drop some more in. To be honest I can't really see whats supporting the floor above , they look like chipboard but just seem to be floating so I think I must be looking at it wrong.

[kellys_eye]

I'd remove it all, refit the long (wall) lengths in the other orientation ('upright' rather than horizontal) as you'll easily get screws through them into the wall.

Then fit joist hangers (light weight) at appropriate intervals and cross-pieces to support the plasterboard.

[dewaltdisney]

I t appears to me that his was a suspended ceiling put up to cover the cables, there does seem rather a lot for a domestic situation? The ceiling could have been done better but it is the outside looks and finish that matters, a bit like a film set. There used to be a technical term for this as all topshow and no knickers.

DWD