Comment by djhn

Throughout history people have taken precautions against ceilings disintegrating. One might even say, ”strong engineering controls”.

Some of the best known laws from the ~1700BC Babylonian legal text, The Code of Hammurabi, are laws 228-233, which deal with building regulations.

229. If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its construction firm, and the house which he has built collapses and causes the death of the owner of the house, that builder shall be put to death.

230. If it causes the death of the son of the owner of the house, they shall put to death a son of that builder.

233. If a builder constructs a house for a man but does not make it conform to specifications so that a wall then buckles, that builder shall make that wall sound using his silver (at his own expense).

That doesn’t sound like ceilings never disintegrated!