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Repairing badly cracked plaster ceilings

16 years ago

Hello all -- I'm considering buying a 1920s bungalow that seems to have good "bones" but needs considerable work. I've only been in it once so far, but I observed with some dismay that the living room ceiling -- the original plaster -- is lumpy and cracked in places. It is not stained so I'm not sure whether it was from water damage or not (the attic space above is not finished, but I would finish it if I bought the place). Can anyone with experience tell me a bit about repairing such a ceiling? Is the plaster salvageable? I don't want to sheet rock over it. Thanks.

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Comments (2)

kim2007
16 years ago
I would imagine you could repair the cracks and sand out some of the lumps, or at least skim coat over it if it really bothers you. It really depends on whether the plaster has become severely detached from the lath. And even if that has occurred, you can re-attach the loose areas with plaster washers. Don't expect 'perfect' surfaces in an old house, or you will be constantly disappointed. A couple of our ceilings have cracked, and in one room it is because the ceiling joists have sagged. You really need to spend a little more time examining the house before you can determine what has happened and how or if it can be fixed. As I've mentioned in previous posts, plaster can seem to be in pretty bad shape and still be salvageable, and it's worth the effort to do so, IMO.
ron6519
16 years ago
It depends upon whether the cracks are just cosmetic or the structure of the plaster is compromised. The plaster is keyed into a lath behind it. The plaster was pushed throught the slats and it folded over the tops of the lath. If these are broken off all over the ceiling, then the plaster would need to be removed before it fell to the floor. Since you say the attic is open, it should be easy to inspect.
If the cracks are just cosmetic, and there are only a few, you can just tape and compound them. If there are many, all over the ceiling, I would screen the ceiling and skim coat it.
Ron
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More specific answer -- Old Plaster has a tendency to show cracks. You can just paint over it, which many old house owners do or do a skim coat of new plaster, hard to work with, or joint compount, preferred over the small cracks to make it smooth again. A skim coat is just a very light layer of compound that you smooth over teh existing layer and then sand with a high grit sandpaper to get a smooth surface. My prefered method when I have time is to do light weight joint compound where teh crack is,you are really just putting a very thin coat on with the knife, let it dry and then sand with an orbital sander attached to a shop vac. Looks great and no mess. As i rarely have time, I more often just paint over the cracks and don't bnotice them except when I am being picky. Is the areas that is stinky over the crawlspace, if so thats another advantage to completely sealing the crawlspace floor -- non-stinkiness. The keeping of moist vapor out should also help the smell. Caulk or expanding foam should also help, but I would think that stopping the source of the problem would be much more effective and they might not do much by themselves.
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REmove the switch pkate or a receptacel plate to try and see the edge of the wall. One of the earliest uses of gysum board was as a backer for 2 coat plaster. The backer is tyopically 16 x 48 inches and 3.8 inch thick. A gray coat was then added and a white finish coat to bring the final thickness to 3/4 of an inch for the entire wall. The shrinkage you are seeing sounds like the edges of teh backer board where the gray coat was not supported completely. You can use Easysand to skim the depressions if you want a prefectly flat surface. It is easier with a plasterer's trowel and some practice. Very fine cracks with no gap may be covered with paint, but if anything is moving with the humidity they can open again through the paint film. There are products that claim to bridge and allow painting, but I normally apply mesh tape and use setting joint compound to feather out the patch to about 12-16 inches wide.
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Plaster cracks. It cracks because of humidity changes, settling, etc. You can generally knock on plaster with your knuckles and tell if it's solid, or hollow sounding. If it's solid, it's fine. You can mud and tape plaster cracks with paper drywall tape - just like a drywall joint - and do a very a very good job. I've done it on many old houses. It both hides the crack and provides stability to the plaster if it's tight. It's obviously not going to support a large chunk of plaster that's ready to fall. I've also used drywall screws to help secure plaster that felt mostly secure - but I where wanted a little more assurance.
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You can put some screws in to pull the drywall back up to the plaster ceiling, then mud as needed.
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