Archive for the ‘Home Improvement’ Category
December 4th, 2007 | 
Author: Painting a ceiling can be a real pain in the neck! Take some advice from a professional and get the job done quickly and with less effort.
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Winter is almost here, which means that people will be looking for all sorts of affordable ways to heat their homes. The use of electric heaters, gas fireplaces, and wood stoves rise as the temperatures drop.
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There are four ways that I know of to smooth over textured ceilings and I’ve tried them all. If you want to do the same, take my advice…
Artex. I hate it. It’s definitely not Arty, but it is Textured.
The previous owners of my house applied Artex to most of the ceilings.
They probably did it to cover the fact that some of the ceilings
were cracked or sagging.
Somehow it doesn’t work in a Victorian house that I am trying to restore back to its former glory.
Here are the methods that I have tried to return the ceilings back to their original form.
Remove the Artex with a sander
One word of advice: Don’t!
Your house will be filled with dust and you’ll get through loads of face masks.
It also takes forever - that stuff is tough! You’ll soon get tired arms doing this job.
Remove the Artex with a steamer
Amazingly, those steam strippers used for removing wallpaper will also remove Artex. The steam softens the Artex and you can scrape it off. It’s still a lot of effort though.
Beware – hot, melted Artex sticks to the skin and it’s hot. Wear thick gloves and other protection if you use this method.
Cover the Artex with a skim-coat
The makers of Artex sell a product, Smooth-It, which is designed for covering up textured surfaces. It galls me that Artex are making money twice – once for the Artex and once for the Smooth-It.
You can buy this ready mixed in large tubs, or as sacks of dry powder. Buy the powder – it’s considerably cheaper and you can mix it to the consistency that suits you.
I would only recommend this if you are reasonably handy at plastering.
If the texture is very deep, knock off the largest protruding pieces first otherwise you’ll be applying a lot of skim coat – probably requiring as many as 3 applications. Your arms are going to get sore!
Start again
Remove the ceiling entirely and put up a new one. Again, this is only practical if you are good at plastering. However, if your ceiling has cornices (or coving), it might be the only solution. Using a skim-coat to cover the Artex means that the cornice will “sink” into the ceiling by the depth of the coat.
If you have a period house as I do, you might be reluctant to do this. My ceilings are made from lath and plaster rather than the modern plasterboard. I want to retain as much of the original house as possible during the renovation.
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A common feature in many older houses is a decorative cornice. That’s the moulded decorative border that is fitted at the corner where the walls meet the ceiling.
Some of these were moulded in-place by master craftsmen, using plaster of Paris. Others are moulded in lengths and attached to the walls afterwards.
In modern houses, this is also known as coving and is generally a
simple, concave moulding made from plasterboard – moulded gypsum covered in paper.
If you want to install your own coving or cornice, beware! Plasterboard coving is very heavy. It will require at least two people to install it and once fitted, you will need a series of props to hold it in place. Alternatively, battens temporarily nailed or screwed to the wall and ceiling can be used. The holes can be filled later.
Considerably easier alternatives are polystyrene foam and polyurethane mouldings. These are very lightweight and much easier to handle.
The polystyrene ones are available moulded into several decorative patterns, which is ideal for period houses. They can be fitted by one person, using a specially designed adhesive which is strong enough to hold the pieces in place while it sets.
Gaps between the cornice and wall or ceiling can be filled with ordinary filler, as can any gaps between the sections.
Once all the gaps are filled, they can be painted using normal emulsion paint. I found that it needed two or three coats, but once done, it was impossible to tell that they were made of polystyrene.
The polyurethane ones tend to be smooth mouldings similar to the plasterboard ones as they are covered in paper to make it easier to paint using standard emulsion paint.
They are slightly heavier than the polystyrene ones, but come in longer lengths, meaning fewer joins.
Again, these can be attached using an adhesive. Being slightly heavier, they might need a little extra support – a few small masonry nails hammered into the wall under the bottom edge, and a few more into the ceiling will do the trick. Once the adhesive is dry, remove the nails and fill the holes with a standard filler.
Being covered in paper, paint adheres well to these mouldings, although you might need two or three coats.
If your rooms don’t already have cornices or coving, you’ll be amazed at what a difference it makes to the appearance – especially if you have high ceilings and use patterned mouldings.
