Stripping and re-painting the bathroom ceiling

4nnabella

Hi everyone,

I just wanted a bit of advice on what equipment etc we might need to strip the paint off our bathroom ceiling. The paint above the bath has started peeling, I assume due to steam etc from the shower, and it's starting to look unsightly!

So basically, we need to strip the peeling paint off then repaint the ceiling but I have never had to do anything like this before so don't know quite where to start!

Any advice would be gratefully received

googler

You've answered your own question.

Steam has taken the paint off already, so some more steam (i.e. with a steam stripper) should do the job on the rest.

Once you've got it back to bare plaster, you may want to consider getting a plasterer in to put a skim coat on what's there to give you a smooth surface, then treat that with plaster sealer, and apply three or four coats of paint. Consider the specialised kitchen/bathroom paints in preference to regular emulsion

Don't forget to put down dustsheets everywhere when you're painting the ceiling, and especially when the plasterer is in - they can get a bit messy.

If it's getting to the stage where your showering is stripping the paint, you really need to consider forced ventilation, i.e. a powered extractor fan.

4nnabella

Yeah we've talked to the landlord about getting an extractor fan fitted (there's only a ventilation brick currently) but he's a bit tricky to tie down to get anything done.

phill99

4nnabella wrote: »

but he's a bit tricky to tie down to get anything done.

Thats because he is a landlord and his motivation is profit.

Surely repairs are down to him, not you as a tenant.

4nnabella

Yeah probably. We were just thinking that if it is a relatively straightforward thing to do then it's just easier to do it ourselves.

It's not that he's profit driven, he just works night shifts so is hard to get hold of sometimes. If we need anything looking at he sends his mate round. If we asked him to do it, we'd just get a half-a*sed job done I think.

WestonDave

My advice would be to give it a good sanding to ensure any loose stuff is off - you don't need to get it all off just the loose stuff. Sanding it will also get rid of any ridges/dents etc. This only requires a degree of stamina, some sandpaper and if possible a sanding block. The latter two available pretty cheaply in Wilkinsons or Wickes - more expensively in B&Q.

Once you've done that I'd personally recommend giving it two coats of Zinsser Perma White paint - for a standard size bathroom a small 750ml tin should do two coats and will cost you around £17. Yes its expensive paint but it is a two coat process where the two coats somehow fuse together - plus it has an anti mould additive in it. I was repainting my bathroom ceiling every few months to sort out peeling bits or mould before someone on here recommended that paint. (most of it was fine but there was a persistant problem at the join between the cold outside wall and the ceiling - made worse because you can't shove loft insulation right up to the edge).

The downside (other than it being expensive for the size of tin) is that you'll probably have to track down a specialist decorators merchant to buy it locally unless you get it off the internet. Look for Crown decorator centres or Brewers decorators merchants - they are for people in the trade but they don't bite and are usually very helpful to mere mortals looking for decent products rather than the watery rubbish the sheds sell!