Long metal rectangular bars?

Question

I am doing a plaster ceiling repair and discovered these long pieces (bar?) of steel above my ceiling. Any opinion what these might be? Maybe a support used years ago when hanging original plaster ceiling?

Answer 1

I don't know how old your house is, but in some old houses they ran steel bars from one side of the house to the other.  These helped support the side walls.

Is it possible that there was once a heavy chandelier and that these bars were placed to support it?

The plaster in my house was done with lathe only--no wire or steel bars.

Answer 2

from my experience with lat and plaster ceilings, is they would use a form of chicken wire and board for support of the plaster, I have also seen use of re-bar and board, generally spaced apart   6-12 inches. I would think the latter of the two here, that is the metal bars was used as a form of support for the original ceiling. As long as your not re doing the3whole ceiling and just patching, I think you would be fine.

good luck!