Skim plastering a painted ceiling?
- Thread starter shadrack
- Start date
Hi Shadrack
Check to see if the existing ceiling is sound, and could hold an extra coat of plaster. If not, your options would be to pull it down (v. messy), or overboard with 12.5mm plasterboard and then skim multifinish.
If the existing ceiling is sound, you can overskim with multifinish, but it will need glueing (apply PVA:water 1:2) and before the glue dries, hit it with your first coat. The PVA will glue will ensure the first skim coat is firmly bonded to the ceiling.
... or get a pro in! Probably cost £150 ish?
Hope that helps ....
Check to see if the existing ceiling is sound, and could hold an extra coat of plaster. If not, your options would be to pull it down (v. messy), or overboard with 12.5mm plasterboard and then skim multifinish.
If the existing ceiling is sound, you can overskim with multifinish, but it will need glueing (apply PVA:water 1:2) and before the glue dries, hit it with your first coat. The PVA will glue will ensure the first skim coat is firmly bonded to the ceiling.
... or get a pro in! Probably cost £150 ish?
Hope that helps ....
Many thanks RKB. The ceiling has the odd crack in it but seems pretty sound - I think it could hold a thin extra layer of plaster. I've done a little bit of amateur plastering myself but never a ceiling. Perhaps I will get someone in for this..!
If an old lathe and plaster ceiling can't take an extra coat of plaster, it is probably unlikely to be able to take 12.5mm boards on the creaky old joists.
When I had a plasterer in to skim a ceiling, he stood on a platform to bring him up to a decent working height rather than trying to do it from floor level.
Artexing a ceiling is dead easy, even I can make that look good!
When I had a plasterer in to skim a ceiling, he stood on a platform to bring him up to a decent working height rather than trying to do it from floor level.
Artexing a ceiling is dead easy, even I can make that look good!
AdamW said:
[Takes issue gently]
Surely a lath & plaster ceiling fails because the tongues of plaster sticking up between the laths break at the neck? The integrity of the joists is a separate issue. Just because the plaster is loose doesn't necessarily mean the joists won't hold the nails (or screws) so support over-boarding with plasterboard, does it?
[/Takes issue gently]
Can you take up a couple of floorboards above and see if the plaster tongues have become broken off?
I suppose.
There is still an issue because the ceiling joists may only be sized for the weight of the original ceiling, therefore adding the weight of hefty boards to it may cause problems.
Without a better description of the ceiling it is hard to decide! Obviously if the lathes have failed then skimming won't do much for it, but if it is just something cosmetic (someone went to town with artex on it, whilst wearing a blindfold) then skimming is preferable.
There is still an issue because the ceiling joists may only be sized for the weight of the original ceiling, therefore adding the weight of hefty boards to it may cause problems.
Without a better description of the ceiling it is hard to decide! Obviously if the lathes have failed then skimming won't do much for it, but if it is just something cosmetic (someone went to town with artex on it, whilst wearing a blindfold) then skimming is preferable.