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Ceiling Texture (The Sky is Falling!)

Moose | Posted in Construction Techniques on January 12, 2006 08:56am

Hello! Have a plasterer who seems baffled by a problem with a ceiling texture here. Scraped ceilings in the house and put up a hand troweled “lid.” In the office and in the kitchen, there was paint under the acoustic ceiling that had been removed. So, first time he put up the texture, it eventually cracked and sagged all over the place. He thought his helper may have layed it on too thick in places, scraped it off and re-did it, this time he rolled some glue first.

But that had problems too. The texture now started to have air bubbles that formed under it, crack & sag followed. Not as much to redo that time (3rd) but still problems.Now, that THIRD ceiling did a repeat peformance of the first problem: big cracks, sagging-and this time, it spontaneously dropped to the floor in a rather big patch. Thank goodness it is thin & light! So-if I look up at the bare spot on the ceiling, I see paint, and there is even flakes of paint on top of that paint. My suggestion to him was-shouldn’t that stuff at least be lightly sanded, maybe even primer coated, before you put the texture (or texture + glue) up?Any guidance/knowledge you can provide would be very helpful. I’d love to avoid-and I’m sure the plasterer would too-a fourth or fifth try at the ceiling. Ceiling Texture Material is: La Habra Santa Barbara Mission Finish Base 100

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  1. adlib | Jan 12, 2006 03:53pm | #1

    Have you considered or checked if you have a major moisture problem in your home? My current clients have had an ongoing problem with peeling ceilings. Upon closer inspection, in addition to plumbing leaks into the crawl space (small ponds), we noticed the roof isn't ventilated at all, they never use their bathroom vents (because of the noise), and there is no kitchen vent!

    1. Moose | Jan 12, 2006 06:04pm | #2

      Well, ceiling sat uncovered for quite a while (between scraping of old texture and application of new) and there wasn't any evidence of water/moisture then.

      Plumbing has all been redone (copper)-doesn't mean it couldn't be a leak, but I'm doubtful about that. I'll crawl up and double check though

      We do have all of our vents working on the attic space. Seems like this would happen more than in just one room if that was the culprit, no?

      I assume it is a prep-work thing, since the other rooms in the house were clean/unpainted under the acoustic texture, but this room had some coats of paint and not in great shape. When the bubbling thing happened (mentioned in 1st post), he noticed that the glue he had rolled on was adversely affecting the ceiling before the texture was re-applied. Put texture on over that (!) and it did the same thing.

      1. User avater
        BillHartmann | Jan 12, 2006 06:21pm | #3

        What is the age of the house?Back in the 20-30's there was a "paint" that was used that is hard to cover over. Calcimine or something like that.

        1. Moose | Jan 12, 2006 06:54pm | #4

          House was built in 1947. I wondered about that too. It was mentioned in letters section of recent "Fine Homebuilding" I think?

  2. BillBrennen | Jan 12, 2006 11:20pm | #5

    Moose,

    You wrote, "Ceiling Texture Material is: La Habra Santa Barbara Mission Finish Base 100."

    That sounds like a Portland cement stucco product to me. I believe you will have better adhesion and behavior with a gypsum plaster type product, and can get the same effect you want. Is the new texture going to receive a paint job?

    Bill

    1. Moose | Jan 13, 2006 08:05am | #6

      Hi Bill-

      Thanks for the interest. Yes, I do plan to paint the ceilings-especially since the texture that has been applied to the ceilings thus far goes on dark gray and dries to a fairly light gray.

      Why?

      1. BillBrennen | Jan 13, 2006 08:19am | #7

        Moose,The reason I asked is that it occurred to me that maybe your reason for using a cement plaster was to get a special color effect without paint. Since you plan to paint anyway, the color of your texturing compound is not an issue. You could probably arrive at an identical texture using a gypsum-based plaster that would be better at adhering over paint.If your cement plaster stays put, know that the standard is to wait 30 days' cure before priming with an alkalai-resistant primer. Sometimes it is necessary to first neutralize the surface with a weak acid wash (diluted vinegar, for instance) before priming.Bill

        1. Moose | Jan 13, 2006 05:55pm | #8

          Thanks very much for that info!

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