I was working at my desk in one corner of the lounge when I heard a cracking noise. At first I thought it was rats in the ceiling but when I looked up I noticed a crack around the ceiling fan. I quickly got a ladder and checked the ceiling for water, thinking that with all the rain we'd had maybe some water had got in.
I didn't find any water but I could still hear this cracking noise and it was getting louder. By the time I got down there were more cracks appearing in our ceiling. I quickly grabbed my computer and printer and moved them into the bedroom. I then dragged one of the lounges into the kitchen and closed off the doors to the lounge.
I then stood in the hallway and peered through a small opening in the doorway. Next minute the whole lounge room ceiling came down with a crash, bringing insulation batts, dirt and 30+ years of dust. What a mess! I had about 10 minutes from when I first heard any sound.
It took us days to clean it up and 3 weeks later we have a new ceiling installed and painted. While the plasterers were putting in the new ceiling, they checked all the other ceilings in the house and found that they too had deteriorated to the point that they could fall at any time.
http://thewhitekidneybeanextractreview.com/wake-up-lean-program-review/
Needless to say, we got them re-strapped.
Apart from the expense (it wasn't covered by insurance) the hassle and time it has taken to get back to using the lounge has been enormous. Its taken weeks to get our house back close to normal. We consider ourselves lucky though that no-one was hurt. If I hadn't heard it cracking it would have landed on my head.