OUr new house has some plaster ceiling (it's an old house) and I haven't done much reading myself on this but I'm starting here. We've got some cracks int he surface plaster, I was wondering if anyone had some experience with having their ceilings refinished - plaster or otherwise. I have heard of some people putting wall board up instead of newplaster but I have not seen in. The newer addition to the house has this kind of ceiling.

The ceilings do need refinishing, it isn't something I can let go.

Depending on how bad the cracks in the plaster are, most of these are repairable. There are a couple of steps to fix the cracks in the plaster. First you have to drill some holes to find the extent of the delamination of the plaster. You can then inject adhesive behind the plaster to bond it back to the ceiling. Once this is done, you get what are called plaster washers. These are tiny washers that grip the plaster. You install them with drywall screws. This will place the plaster firmly back to the substructure. Once this is done you cover the cracks with fiberglass tape, and use joint compound to smooth it out.

Sound like a lot of work, but it goes real quick.

By the way, I have a house that is over 120 years old. I have to fix all sorts of wierd things!

cool about the old houses..
ours was built in 1880
We have just had to pull down a lot of the plaster that was delaminated so badly....

its messy but once its done then its done..
brant

Mine was built in 1953, just a pup. But I cheaped out and skinned the office area between the kitchen, garage and family room in 1/4" drywall then painted. Looks killer. The walls were so badly beat up from previous tennants, ones who were carted off by the DEA, that I didn't want to bother trying to repair the original plaster.

Drywall=good!

If the plaster is just cracked and not falling down, you can fill the cracks with that white wall filler, (assuming that its a rough finish this works),( if it's a flat finish this, won't work..) then, smooth it out and then re-paint the ceiling. if the paint is peeling however, you need to scrape it, sand it and then re-paint. if you try to paint over peeling paint, big chunks will start falling off as the wet paint hits it! (bad experience....)

You need to have a plastering contractor look at it to determine if the cracking is caused by deteriorated or damaged lath. If not than the cracks can be surface repaired and the ceiling refinished. There is a healthy business in this area just smooth finishing old plaster ceilings that were sprayed on originally.

"I" would...if DIY....get a BFH, smack out all the loose plaster, set 1x studs and hang sheet rock, tape, mud, sand, finish coat, paint.....

I advocate the use of drywall.

One thing that is a bastard is trying to mate lath and plaster with drywall and get a smooth finish - it's quite hard to shim the drywall out enough that it's the same with as the plaster. So - try and avoid doing that :-)

Fiid.

Been there...saw the show.

Actually an old Home Time had the product and it worked great for me.

Tassoglas is the stuff. Woven Fiberglass wallpaper basically.
Its popular is Europe where plaster is much more common.

It breathes so the crack can grow and shrink but it no longer shows.
But it does not stretch like wallpaper to hide wavy seams so its a 2-3 person job. You have to line it up perfectly to hide the seams.

Just fill and sand the cracks flush with the rest of the ceiling if they are big. Primer or paint first. Wallpaper glue does not like to stick to bare sheetrock compound.

Use the strongest CLEAR paste you can find. Primer and finish paint as you like.

I ordered it through the wallpaper store. More expensive than normal wallpaper but faster than a replaster! It comes in 3ft widths.

http://www.roosinternational.com/glass_tex...ng/textures.htm

For the fancy job there are beveled sheetrock items that give the large ceiling the "paneled" look. (like a Kitchen cabinet door but larger)

-Rich

IMHO, don't use drywall. It sucks to hang on a ceiling and then it probably won't have the look you're after. Plus any expansion or contraction of the surface above will just lead to more cracks. If 'twer up to me, I'd either hire a plaster specialist or install a tin (or tin look) ceiling for more architectural interest. Just be sure to drill a decent sized hole at the ends of the cracks to eliminate their continuation.


Oh, now look what I've done. I've been spending way too much time hanging out with the architects in the office. I guess the only solution is to stick my toung on some of these wires under the desk to see which ones are live.

Thanks guys, lots of help.

I had a contracter in last night regarding replastering and he was way expensive for a plain smooth no character ceiling.

Armstrong makes some products that are designed to cover the ceiling much like the drywall method described. I think that's the "tin look" that has been referred to as well.

Research as with any project is key.

Clearly