So I recently purchased an apartment, and due to the staggered design of the building, my unit isn't the highest floor but it the highest at one of the sections with a roof over it. So while I was checking out the empty unit to see where to place lighting, etc. I knocked the ceiling with the tape measure and it sounded hollow. I didn't think there was plaster ceiling before so I continued tapping across all over the house to check. What I noticed was that the "hollow" sound was mostly in the inner part of the house and as we approach towards the balcony and window area the sound of the ceiling becomes more "solid", meaning concrete. I'm a bit confused. Is this normal for top floor units or is this something to be concerned about? The previous owner stayed in this place for about eight years dy, and when didn't mention anything about it.

Lol mostly the same with most apartments. Nothing to do with which floor level
Living room/balcony got no pipings to hide. Nearer to the entrance got bathrooms kitchen yard etc and bedrooms too hence the plaster ceiling to conceal water pipes, aircon pipings etc

This post has been edited by idoblu: Jan 16 2021, 09:47 PM

So it's normal that some parts sound hollow and some parts are more concrete? My friend lives a few floors down and his unit doesn't have this sort of thing. Concrete ceilings all the way.

There can be diff layout configurations (L and R mirror); or diff unit sizes, etc.
Assuming you have a ladder and measuring tape the ceiling height will be lower at the points where there is false ceiling (assuming floor level is constant).

This is commonly done to hide piping runs or to hide structural beams.

In layman terms, for my unit i never install plaster ceiling since getting the key but there is plaster ceiling in toilets and common corridor between rooms from developer.

In your case, instead of having a "barn/attic room with sloping roof" effect, someone decided to make a flat ceiling (best effort) on a per room basis?

This post has been edited by ceo684: Jan 16 2021, 10:10 PM

So I checked with previous owner. He said the plaster ceiling is original, but how extensive it really is I'll need to check it out on my own.

But in short... should be nothing to worry about right? ...right?

In short the plaster ceiling nothing to worry - except when you wanna drill holes for lamp mounting,
or when you wanna hang ceiling fan in places where there is no existing fan hook.

Ah, fans all settled dy. There's lighting too but was just thinking of changing them to simple LED lights. So I guess should be alright...

Thanks for the assurance!