I recently repaired a shower drain on the 2nd floor of a condo that leaked out through a recessed light in the 1st floor ceiling. The drywall around the light is a little crumbly now and some of the knock-down texture has peeled off. My questions are: 1. Is there a way of reinforcing the damaged drywall (it’s an area about 3″ wide around the light) or should I replace a section?
and
2. Is there a way to re-texture the repaired or replaced section so that it blends in with the rest of the ceiling or do I need to re-texture the whole ceiling? I’ve had finishers tell me there’s no way to hide a repair to a knockdown surface – is this the consensus? Of course I’ve seen lots of lousy repair jobs, but is there a proper way to do this?
thanks in advance.
Replies
I had 4 can holes to cover when we changed out the lighting in a customer's home. Magic Dave took my smooth patch and sprayed and knockdowd'd each one. A good finisher/texture applicator can make them disappear. I wouldn't hold too much hope with texture in a spray can, tho some may be able to make it work. As to the bad can surrounding area, cut out the bad and then screw a wood backer to the good sheetrock. Cut yourself the perfect patch and screw to the wood. Finish it smooth then find a Magic Dave. Better yet, hang the patch and let dave do the rest.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Hey, send Magic Dave up to Portland. I coulda used him a couple of years ago. I was looking at a job where the owner wanted to recess a beam running about 35' between kitchen & family room. My first reaction was to back away from it because of the difficulty of matching the texture - the total area of the contiguous ceiling was about 1800 sf. My Dave said "no problemo, man", so I accepted the job. When he was done the repaired area drew your eye like a naked woman on a fence post, and I ended up re-texturing the entire 1800 sf with all the mess and furniture moving associated with such an undertaking. Consequently, I try hard to stay away from knockdown texture. But maybe if I had Magic Dave.................
Well you sure do wish dave lived up Portland way. This long time family operation isn't cheap, but they're reliable, quick and thorogh. Imagine that. Good work, done on time. What a concept. They have two brothers that hang for them that are the same. No ####. I hire them maybe 3-4 times a year for only a thousand sf and sometimes even less, yet they treat me like their best customer. Now that is magic.
Another pt of info. I know one of the prosecutors in Portland. Been there forever, maybe he's the boss by now. If I relocate and bring dave, shouldn't have any problem.Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
What I have found works best in blending in texture repairs is to avoid geometric shaped patched areas. I'll patch in the bad rock and scrape back some of the good textured area surrounding the patch in a very random way about 6" to 12" out. Then try my best to match it in with whatever textured surface is there. FWIW this has worked pretty well for me.
I'll be finishing up a condo water damaged ceiling repair myself later this week so I know where you're coming from.
one thing to remember when doing a knock down texture repair is that you must seal the new drywall and joint compound, otherwise the texture you spray on the new will dry out much faster than the surrounding painted areas making for two diferent knock down times.