My daughter has just bought a condo that needs remodeling and I’m going to help her. Our first project and the only one I’ve never attempted is to re-sheetrock a ceinling.
The ceiling is coverered in cottage cheese with a number of very bad patches. The worst part is where a previous wall has been removed. It is evident where the old wall met the ceiling and it is uneven.
My question is; how to I accomodate for the uneveness of the ceiling? When screwing in the sheet rock nails will it cause the sheetrock to break at high spots? Is there some process I should do to even out the ceiling before sheetrocking?
All help is greatly appreciated.
Replies
It's not clear from your post, but I think you are attempting/contemplating adding a new layer of s/r over existing to get a smooth finish in place of the textured one in place now. That would be an enormous amount of unnecessary work, imo. The existing texture can be fairly easily removed by wetting it with a sprayer and scraping with a wide scraper.
You may have to spackle, and or re tape the previously patched area, and any areas you damage scraping. Feather it out as wide as practical to hide the seams. Prime, paint, done.
Is there some process I should do to even out the ceiling before sheetrocking?
well, furring strips - - 1X3" - on 16" centers - float them over the nasty spots, drywall and finish
I did the same thing not too long ago for my brother-in-laws fixer upper.
Definately strap over the existing cieling with 1x3 or 1x4 material. Use a string line or some type of long straight edge and level using shims. I'd use deck screws long enough to get into the upper framing or furring.
If you aren't up to floating a new finish onto the old rock or tearing down to the framing to start fresh, then the worst and hardest part of doubling the rock will be finding the joists with the SR screws to be sure the whole thing doesn't become a December suprise and fall down around your ears.
To avoid that, you run the furring or strapping ( local terminology differences) perpendicular to the joists. Spacing - oif you do this at 12" OC, then you can hang 1/2" SR instead of 5/8" and make things easier for a father/daughter team.
There might be another advantage in doubling the rock up. You mention this is a condo, which leads me to assume that somebody else lives upstairs. both furring and double massing are methods used to reduce sound transmissions through walls and floors.
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One more question: Is this on the top floor with an attic above? If so, you need to consider whether the ceiling joists are adequate for the load of another layer of rock.
-- J.S.
start fresh. cut the tape around the perimeter, tear it down and rerock. i would only furr over plaster. rent a drywall lift and get the longest sheets you can based on the size of the room. less struggling (at least less often), and more importantly, since you are a neophyte, few or no butt joints and therefore less sanding. if you wet the stuff and scrape you will end up having to skimcoat the whole thing to make it look good, and it will not despite how easy it looks on tv. rocking over you will buy furring strips, shims, screw around with a stringline all day, maybe have to reset the boxes for ceiling fixtures, get popcorn in your eyes every time you sink a screw, and generally a lot of time consuming stuff for someone who has never done it. plus, it will be in the back of your daughter's head that there is this hideous popcorn crap behind the new rock. whatever you choose, don't rock directly over the popcorn. you will have to use 2 1/2" screws (assuming 5/8 in a condo) and try to locate joists. even when you find one, it will likely be hard for you to sink it.
or have a good rocker come in and do it in a day;). drywall is not my idea of fun father-daughter qt, but diff'rent strokes...
I agree with trimnailer. Tearing it down is easy, gives you a fresh beginning, and allows you to shim the framing with paper drywall shims, or to use 1x strapping, or even resilient channel to decouple the rock from the floor above if noise is an issue there. I also agree that leaving the popcorn buried in the sandwich just feels icky. Get it outta there!
Bugle
After all the messages, I believe the best approach in this situation will be to tear out the old and begin anew. Thank all you for your help.
Now, one more question, please.............Will we need to take down the upper kitchen cabinets or should we just remove the trim and but the sheet rock up to the cabinets and re apply the trim?
If you can manage to take down the old ceiling without damaging the cabinets it would be a time saver. Cover them with plasic and or cardboard and tape them. This will get dusty.
Watch the sledgehammer on the backswing.However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. Winston Churchill
Speaking as a pro, it would be a lot easier for me to remove and re-install the wall cabs than to try to finish around them. Another issuer involved in this would be the whole package you have ther. Still don't know all the conditions of your site, such as whether anyone lives above her unit and what kind of VB exists or if it would be necessary to maintain it.
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I have no problem living with your descision, but do a little investigation - - if the existing drywall happens to be containing loose fill insulation, I'd take a couple of minutes to reconsider strategy..."there's enough for everyone"
David is right on, if it's non insulated tear it down and start fresh - if it's loose fill above - strap it and hang over.