Plaster Repair Or Sheetorck?

Richie-C

I have a job coming up--it's an old apartment (posh area) with plaster ceiling and walls that are in pretty rough shape. Paint is pelling off ceiling and cracks o'plenty.

I have the option of rocking the ceiling, but to be honest, I almost feel that it would be quicker to scrape, prime, skim and paint vs. hauling the rock up the two flights of stairs, finding the joists, furring the celing out, hanging the drywall--well, you get the picture.

Problem is that if I don't sheetrock the celing, I better have a close to fail proof repair plan.

I was thinking of scraping, priming the bare areas with masonry primer (or Peel Stop if I can find a testimonial on it) then mesh tape (wide roll) and skim with mud.

Anyone have a better or more fail proof method for repairs of plaster? I would estimate the apt. was built in the 30's or 40's.

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Richie-C

KellyPainting

Did you think of texturing it?
either w/ mud or popcorn ...... if it's got to be smooth .... then the way you explained it will work .. ceiling repair is tough , is it horsehair plaster? is there an apartment above it and if so is it a high traffic area... If you skim it use blue top mudd... it's more lightweight / easier to sand and won't recrack as easilly ...it's tough to gauranty cracks when kids are jumping and playing a ft above it.either way I worked for a big company for years that actually had CEILING REPAIR UNIT written on one of it's trucks .. ( MINE ) I still specialize in ceiling repair so let me know.

Richie-C

Kelly,

It does have to be smooth. There is an apt above it an that could be one of the reasons the last painters work failed. Although his repairs did not look very clean.

What types of products did you use to repair the celings? Did you wind up sheetrocking instead of repairing?

Richie

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Richie-C

KellyPainting

call me and I'll explain it 508-887-6384

ProWallGuy

I'd hang Flexiwall over it.

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Exroadog

Scrape , Peel Stop, Skim and sand....Prime

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Woz the Painter

The best product I've seen around here for sealing open plaster repairs is a product called Plaster Weld. It was a water based clear sealer with an orange tint. I haven't used it in years, it was available at local plaster supply houses only. Is this similar to the Peel Stop allready mentioned?

Exroadog

I've used Plaster Weld for "gluing" plaster architectural ornaments back together . Works good. Keeping paint stabile though, i've had great success with Peel Stop and Gardz.

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Richie-C

Ex--finally--a testimonial for peel stop. I would like to try it--in fact maybe I'll call my Zinsser rep and get him involved (Cover my butt)

Pro--that Flexi Wall looks pretty cool. Of course--that would be a breeze for you--but I can just see me now getting tangled up in paper as it falls off the ceiling

Richie

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Richie-C

PlasterMaster

Well guys, plaster-weld is a pink water based product that not only acts as a bonding agent but also a bit of a sealer. I have used this almost everday for the past 15 years. Great product. Will it seal cracks, absolutely NOT. But it will bond another plaster skim coat to the original without a doubt. What do plasterers normally do in these type of situations? That would depend on the client and what they are willing to spend. If they want a real plaster repair job and are willing to spend what it takes to get a nice job this is what I would do. First of all scrape as much paint off the ceiling as possible (loose stuff obviously). Next find any cracks that are thicker then hair line cracks and you will need to open them up 1-2'' wide in order to find out where that crack stops. Does it stop just through the finish or does it go all the way through the brown coat down to the lath. Chances are with a very old ceiling, the crack is through the brown coat and down to the lath. There is also a good chance that the lath is wood lath if the house is very old. In this case, cut out the bad cracks down to the wood lath. Put plaster weld on the wood lath and fill in the crack (Im a plasterer so I would use a plaster product myself such as gypsolitet or structolite). One the material has set, put more plaster-weld on top of the browned in area in order to get the same suction on the patched crack as will be on the rest of the wall. Then run some mesh tape over the top of it overlapping slightly and running the mesh tapeat least 2'' on each side past the sealed crack. I would then use a plaster product called basecoat (Imperial basecoat or Diamond basecoat) over the entire ceiling once ALL the cracks have been mesh taped. NOTE: If you have a lot of "spider-web" cracking over the entire ceiling then get yourself some 36-42'' wide EIFS mesh to cover the entire ceiling. Once you cover the ceiling with the basecoat, roughly 1/16'' thick, you should let that set overnight in order to let the basecoat dry a bit to give yourself some more suction for applying the finish coat the following day. Next day come back and apply finish coat. NOTE: If applying the EIFS mesh to the entire ceiling, you will want to first skim some basecoat onto the ceiling (roughly a 40-50 sq/ft are) and then EMBED the mesh into the basecoat. Make sure the basecoat is still wet when embedding to ensure the mesh has a chance to hang up on the ceiling. I personally like to skim one coat of basecoat on, then wait until it sets (about 45 minutes) and then skim one more coat on and embed the mesh into that coat. You will end up with a better product.

Lastly, if you are only planning on going the route of using cheaper products like Durabond, Easysand, All purpose compounds like the light blue or green premix let me explain this to you. You should follow the steps with scraping down the ceiling and cutting out any larger cracks as stated before. Use DURABOND in the large cracks that need filling. Once those cracks are set up, then add your mesh tape where ever needed and then put one coat of EASY SAND over the entire ceiling and then one coat of light blue compound.

I hope this helps. Any other questions feel free to let me know.

PlasterMaster

slickshift

Ritchie-C
I see your on Long Island
SOP on the CT shore (where I worked for years) was to replace it with sheetrock
I almost never ran into plaster there...or here
I was told the reason was the environment, and replacement was the "only" (read: only good) option
I realize in other areas repair seems to be an option, so maybe it's a shoreline thing

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Originally Posted by ModernStyle I have never used this crap before and I pray to the paint gods that I never have to use it again, I would rather use Behr

Richie-C

Well boys, wish I would have gone the sheetrock route. Job turned out to be a nightmare. Not only ceilings, but walls were a mess. Some of the cracks turned out to be old repairs that once scrapred revealed old mesh tape that I pulled from on end of the celing to the other. Oh yeah, there were like a gazillion layers of paint too.

I'll chalk this one up to a learning experience . I don't run into plaster all too often, but when I do, I'll be carefully evaluating whether or not to even take on the job, or if I do, just price it accordingly .

So here is what I did. I scraped the whole place down. Pole sanded. Rolled on peel stop (still not 100% confident with this product). Filled major cracks. Mesh taped over all major cracks. Filled/floated all areas with setting compound (I think it was 90 but it is al a blur ). Sanded, filled again. Touched up/topped with blue lid mud, and primed all areas. Rolled away.

Thanks for all the advice. Good topic for future reference.

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Richie-C