Cracked Ceiling

50Twuncle

We are about to redecorate a bedroom in a 1950's house
The ancient woodchip ceiling paper is covering a multitude of cracks.
What is the best way to deal with them ?
We don't want ARTEX - We want a smooth finish.

nickj_2

you could get a plasterer in and see what he suggests , may need plasterboarding and then skimming , either that or you can fill the cracks in , but it will probably end up looking like the dogs dinner unless you line it as well

ilikewatch

When I first bought my house I had the same issues in the main bedroom, after wasting some considerable time and money trying various ways to resolve the ceiling issues I ended up pulling down all the lath and plaster and plasterboarding it - then got a guy in to skim the new boards and make good the damage around the tops of the walls. Probably cost no more than £200 in total to replace a 12' x 12' ceiling and looked perfect. Since then I've replaced every ceiling in the house as I've decorated - filthy job, but looks excellent when done.

moneyistooshorttomention

My ceilings are being dealt with one by one in my recently bought house.

I understand the slight cracking that is visible through the anaglypta wallpaper on the ceilings here has come from the structure of the roof not having been done as well as "the modern way", but that it will be perfectly safe.

Following advice, both here and "on the ground", I am currently having battens screwed across the old ceilings and a new plasterboard ceiling put in place attached to them and then having that skimmed = result being a standard plain ceiling. I'm told these battens up there will also help support the old ceiling underneath.

£200 is probably about right for the ceiling alone. Mine is different, because I'm also having the walls reskimmed whilst on the subject, so costing a bit more.

50Twuncle

Thanks - we are stripping off all of the woodchip to see just how bad it really is.....

moneyistooshorttomention

50Twuncle wrote: »

Thanks - we are stripping off all of the woodchip to see just how bad it really is.....

Whew! You've got a job and a half there then. Stripping woodchip from walls is not my idea of funny. From ceilings :eek:

DRP

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Whew! You've got a job and a half there then. Stripping woodchip from walls is not my idea of funny. From ceilings :eek:

Agree

We stripped wood chip from walls and ceilings of our knock through lounge diner. Victorian terrace = High ceilings and big walls. Was a hell of a job but well worth it for the new skim.

50Twuncle

We have borrowed a B&D wallpaper steamer/stripper from a relative and discovered a problem - it doesn't work on ceilings - despite the picture on the box - showing it quickly and easily stripping paper, held upside down - hardly any water gets to the heater !!
So - it's a wet sponge and scraper
The plaster underneath is covered in tiny cracks - so I am guessing that it will need skimming
What will that cost - for a 14' by 14' ceiling ?
Is it going to be best to leave the whole job to a professional - with decent equipment ?

moneyistooshorttomention

My steamer has specific instructions on it not to use upside down for safety reasons, ie boiling hot water could drop down onto the person using it.

Makes sense to me.

I wouldn't want to risk that sort of injury personally.

50Twuncle

We have got all of the woodchip off the ceiling and have a plasterer coming tomorrow to give us a quote
What is a 14' square ceiling and 4 walls going to cost for a skim ?

stebiz

50Twuncle wrote: »

We have got all of the woodchip off the ceiling and have a plasterer coming tomorrow to give us a quote
What is a 14' square ceiling and 4 walls going to cost for a skim ?

I've just had all my ceilings taken down upstairs and am awaiting the plasterer to start putting them up. He's charging £200 a room for skimming the walls and putting a new ceiling up - plus about £50 materials.

Moving downstairs I've also got the same issue. A plasterer skimmed over one ceiling about 8 years ago but within a couple of years the cracks started to appear again.

Once upstairs is done he'll be getting asked to pull down the ones downstairs and replace also. A real messy job but well worth getting done. The ceilings will look great and last for a very long time.