Tips on ceiling drywall repair
LargePeopleLiveHere
| Posted in General Discussion on
Hello,
I recently had a water leak in a pipe so had to cut out part of the kitchen ceiling to address the issue (see link below). Now I have a hole in my ceiling. I’ve done drywall repair one other time and will be fixing this one myself as well. I was planning to measure, cut drywall, screw in a piece of wood between the floor joists, screw drywall into the floor joists and piece of wood I installed, mud around the drywall, sand, paint, then texture. Some reminded me to tape the seams.
All that said, is there any other prep items I should do? Should I could out any additional damaged drywall? Since the drywall was wet when I cut it out, it’s a little rough around the edges but not sure if that matters. There’s also some yellow spots you can see on the ceiling next to the hole right next to the light. I was just planning on painting over unless i should replace that drywall too.
Thank you all in advance.
Replies
Clean up the crumbled edges, remove screws that will get in the way. Anything “punky” wouldn’t hurt to remove. Squared up edges and the opening will make the replacement pc fit better.
Prior to taping the patch, fill any voids with mud (cleanly). Keep it flat with the patch. Now mud for the tape, bed tape and proceed to finish the patch.
Downside, matching that texture.
Could the light be moved to cover that area? Depending how that was hung, it might be easier to hide smaller patches.
You should use a sealing primer to “seal” those water stains before finish paint.
Have you called a GOOD FINISHER to get a price? Might be worth the call rather than have to after your labor.
I am not crazy about the solder job on those pipes.
It will be very difficult to make the texture match.
You might be better off dropping the whole ceiling, updating the piping, then replace with fresh drywall. (you can insulate and seal the outside rim joist where you have access)
Another way is to patch the hole, then drywall over the whole thing. (or install some other kind of ceiling treatment)
Of course this all depends on how big the room is, and how picky you are.
Don’t forget water stains need to be primed with oil based primer or the stains will bleed through.
The finish looks like "plastic bag texture." Thin layer of diluted mud, dabbed with a wadded up plastic bag. The protruding "spider web" lines in the pic would be from folds in the plastic wad. VERY difficult to reproduce, which might make unclemikes suggestion attractive.
Oof that texture. Nobody knows why so many bizarre drywall finish textures were experimented with in the 70s and 80s. Popcorn, orange peel, comb etc. Always on the lid. Truly horrid. I'm fairly certain the lid texture in your basement is a slap brush. You load up a brush with mud and slap it on. Literally. Looks terrible, but short of replacing your entire ceiling (which please do if you can), that would be my suggestion for matching the texture. Good luck!
"Nobody knows why so many bizarre drywall finish textures were experimented with in the 70s and 80s."
I can tell you weren't there.
Use Zinsser BIN white pigmented shellac to seal any water stains, and practically everything that needs spot priming/sealing. Dries immediately, smells better than oil-based, and IMO, does a better job.
Basically, any shellac will work as a sealer.
We use mesh tape and spread joint compound first second to third coats of the repair, then sand until smooth apply prime paint and finally to paint matches your color
Cheers!
I'd sure want to cut back the existing drywall to get clean edges. Those frayed edges are going to 'appear' when you start to do the mud for the repair.
I'd suggest removing a couple of inches of the texture adjacent to your repair, so that that your mud knife isn't going to trip over those edges and leave a ridge. If you are lucky, the ceiling was never painted, so the old stuff could be sponged off. With paint, it can be a mess. Every time that I've tried to shortcut this, it comes back to bite me and makes the job take a lot longer.