Problem with ceiling after paint

WeegyAVLover

Distinguished Member
Joined
May 3, 2007
Messages
6,085
Reaction score
2,988
Points
1,872
Location
Scotland
Hi

Right I need some advice on our bedroom ceiling. We have had loads of working done in our room and one of the jobs I did was take down a false ceiling, when I did this the ceiling underneath Also needed to be taken down (this was expected) we got a plaster to come in and he took this ceiling down, replated the ceiling with plasterboard & then it was skimmed.

We whitewashed the ceiling and all was fine. We then decided to get a decorator in (time poor reasons). He painted our ceiling yesterday and we have noticed a big line running across the ceiling. The line is where join in the plasterboard join us?

I am looking for some advice on how to reduce or alleviate the very noticeable line.. will upload pictures in a few mins...
 
83254E65-9C6E-4CF9-930C-58D9CE9FAE63.jpeg


DD4E679D-9859-46DF-8488-D7F3C8E98924.jpeg
 
Another coat?

Edit: how long ago was this painted?
 
Another coat of paint won't fix that - it needs plastering again by the looks of it.

May be able to get away with a heavy duty sander along the line and paint again
 
one problem you might get if you try and sand really hard is you might mess up the scrim tape over the join and then the fibres in the tape will be exposed and it will never look right.

I would sand enough to get the paint off then fill it so it looks flatter then repaint
 
Is it a change in level though? or a difference in paint absorption and drying? If it's flat, why sand it?.

I'm assuming Weegie would have said if it wasn't level.
 
British Gypsum Easifill Or If sanding by hand, British Gypsum Quicksand, When it dries it is light and easy to sand and you might not be able to get it perfect, but im sure you will be able to do the better job than the guy that done your ceiling.
 
If that line is along a join then the ceiling wasn’t plasterboarded properly. You’re supposed to stagger the joints of plasterboard.
 
H
one problem you might get if you try and sand really hard is you might mess up the scrim tape over the join and then the fibres in the tape will be exposed and it will never look right.

I would sand enough to get the paint off then fill it so it looks flatter then repaint

This is a good point and one I never thought of despite it being obvious now you said it.

Is it a change in level though? or a difference in paint absorption and drying? If it's flat, why sand it?.

I'm assuming Weegie would have said if it wasn't level.

It should all be one level. It’s an old house with a lathe ceiling but it’s an indent in the seam all the way across so I have no idea what he has done.

British Gypsum Easifill Or If sanding by hand, British Gypsum Quicksand, When it dries it is light and easy to sand and you might not be able to get it perfect, but im sure you will be able to do the better job than the guy that done your ceiling.

My thinking was hopefully not to do any filling myself as I think my efforts my make it worse if I do that. I have done many a patch job with polyfiller but these are usually small cracks and holes. This to me seems like if done wrong would look really obvious.

I am now thinking a light sand to maybe make the transition less noticeable.

The guy we got in was a cornice and plastering expert and he said he does this all the time. Don’t get me wrong he has made a good job of the cornice to fill and mend it and Ceiling rose he installed is a proper plaster one and looks the business, but the finish on the ceiling in my novice opinion is not thick enough as some of the plaster work over the screw holes has also come out (this is easily mended) and therefore has left us disappointed.
 
I'd be getting the plasterer back in to sort it..... In fact I did just that quite recently.....
 
he took this ceiling down, replated the ceiling with plasterboard & then it was skimmed.
Is it plaster and lathe or skimmed plaster board?
 
If that line is along a join then the ceiling wasn’t plasterboarded properly. You’re supposed to stagger the joints of plasterboard.

I thought this as well but he said it should not be a problem. It’s sometimes hard to argue with tradesmen when they seem to know what they are talking about.
 
oops, that was meant to be a confused emoji :facepalm:

So we have a plasterboard ceiling that hasn't been skimmed across the joint very well?
 
Trying to work this out in my head.

Has the whole ceiling been replaced?
If so, how did that fragile ceiling coving remain intact.
I have the same period type place (late 19th/ turn 20th century with 9ft ceilings) and the most brittle coving known to non gender specific type of humans.

Blowing the image up it looks like a really bad fill and could do with a decent sanding and filler added in places.
 
Just having another look at the ceiling as a whole and it looks as though the whole ceiling takes a slight change of slope across the whole room near to where the line has appeared.

It might be worthwhile having a quick look in the loft if you can just to see where the timber is going. Also which way the timber is running. I do a lot of refurb work and always put timber noggins in. It stops anything sagging over time.

I assume 12.5mm board was used and not 9.5mm which is wrong

There would be no point easi-filling anything if the ceiling isn’t fixed properly. Would be better to spend an hour or two putting timber above, screwing it and then Tape and filling
 
So hard to see what’s happened in a photo on line. Did the decorator comment.

Since you imply this didn’t show up with initial base coat, I’m wondering whether the decorator overfilled/failed to sand between coats?
 
H

My thinking was hopefully not to do any filling myself as I think my efforts my make it worse if I do that. I have done many a patch job with poly filler but these are usually small cracks and holes. This to me seems like if done wrong would look really obvious.

The product I suggested is a very light product, it would fill and bulk up the area and be super easy to sand, it would allow you to get a smoother transition, and easier to work with than the joint cement and mulitfinish that your expert would have used.
 
Hard to tell from pictures, but it doesn’t look like a crack for me, more like bad plastering. Almost as if it was done in two bits. Cracks normally follow plasterboard etc edges, not across at an angle like that. Might be wrong.

Did the decorator mention anything? As said, I’d be asking the plasterer also.
 
Personally, I’d get the plasterer back and get their opinion.

Being a natural worrier, but also from very recent experience I would concerned that the two tradesmen would blame each other and shrug responsibility. You could certainly be looking at extra cost (or some DIY) - for example, the plaster may agree to fix the problem for no charge but then the decorator would want additional payment to repaint.

My concern is if the crack has appeared because the boards are moving then any cosmetic repair (rather than addressing the root problem) is likely to crack again within a short time.

What was the time between plastering and painting?

So best to get the plasterer in to assess properly.

Cheers,

Nigel
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom