New Plaster Ceiling Comin Down!
We’re just finishing a yearlong renovation of our brownstone. The work has been very good and our contractor has been very honest and responsive, not passing any unforseen costs during construction onto us. He brought a very good plasterer on the job who we like alot. Unfortunately, the new plaster on the ceiling in one…
We’re just finishing a yearlong renovation of our brownstone. The work has been very good and our contractor has been very honest and responsive, not passing any unforseen costs during construction onto us. He brought a very good plasterer on the job who we like alot.
Unfortunately, the new plaster on the ceiling in one of the rooms is falling completely off. It seems as if the plaster weld used to bond the new to the old plaster is not taking to the old plaster. Firstly, any experiences with such a phenomenon? Secondly, who is responsible for paying for a new dropped sheetrock ceiling if they find that the old plaster is too old and weak to adhere to? The work is still under warranty, but if it requires a new solution to fix…seems like a grey area. Suggestions? Thanks.
i know this is an old post but anyway. sometimes plaster is just old, shot, kaput. it just starts to crumble away.
thanks
brian5028
Used Plaster-Weld in both bedrooms and dining room with no problems. Hairline cracks started appearing in the masterbedroom after two weeks. Plasterer is concerned the ceiling will fall on me while I sleep should the bonding agent (Plaster-Weld)give way. Decided to do the living room using Plaster-Weld, followed directions as on the can and by the selling agent. Three hours after the plasterer finished, one-fourth of the new plaster came crashing down, with the remaing plaster hanging precariously. New plaster stuck to the Plaster-Weld but Plaster-Weld did not stick to the old ceiling. It is NOT the workmanship. My third-generation plasterer was very skeptical about using Plaster-Weld as he has used Thoro-Bond for years in Idaho with NO PROBLEMS. He has used Thoro-Bond (unavailable in Southern California) for years in plastering in multi-million dollar homes and has never once had this problem. Plaster-Weld is an inferior product, does not do what it claims, and should not be sold. As my plasterer said, “What would happen if someone had been sitting there when that ceiling fell down?” Does it take someone dying to get this product off the market?
In the days of gas lighting, the ceiling plaster was often coated with shellac to reflect light. It has a Teflon effect, repelling later coatings of plaster or paint. It’s a natural, biodegradable product, and is dissolvable with ammonia or paint thinner with a little lacquer thinner.
The second post was your answer; it does not make a difference if it is a contractor or not. I have used that web site and product and it worked for me.I purchsed the product and finished the repair work myself! the website mentioned in the post had given me step by step instructions.Im not saying it was easy but it worked for me.If you need plastering advice I would recomend it.
The reason you pay your contractor (30% of the bill) is for his expertise. He screwed up, he should fix it. Simple.
What about putting up tin? We have the calcimite problem and that’s going to be our solution.
I think what the original poster is asking is if the ceiling can’t be repaired then who pays for another ceiling using sheet rock. I m guessing that the contractor has said that he would like to use furring strips to ‘drop the ceiling”. I would definately try to save the old ceiling if possible, especially if there are crown mouldings or a ceiling medalion Try and scrape off the plaster with a tape knife back down to a solid surface. It may mean scraping the entire ceiling. If the original ceiling plaster starts to come down it may have come unkeyed from the lath. After scraping, I like to use an alcohol based primer like Bins or Enamlac before skimming the ceiling. It provides for a more secure substrait. If the ceiling has a lime washed or calcimined paint coat Benjamine Moore makes a specific pro series primer but Im not sure how well it will hold up over time. Removing the old calcimine layer is difficult but can be done with steam. As to who pays for the “mistake” the good things is that the materials won’t cost very much to replace. The bad thing is the job is mostly labor cost.
whoop! sorry, it posted twice before i finished editing! 🙂
I’ve had this problem happen to me, as I am replastering my ceilings (I’m into plaster 🙂 ). Prev. owner of house “stippled” the plaster ceiling with about an inch of joint compound to hide water damage. We steamed/scraped it off to reveal the plaster underneat, but the top coat came off. So I thought I could just skim coat it with new plaster. NOT. New finish plaster did not stick to old. Calcification as previous poster mentioned, could be the case. If old plaster was discolored (rust colored), new plaster will not stick. Joint compound as a patch/skim coat seems to be the only thing that will stick. All my finish plaster work fell off or easily cracked off and the JC seems to be holding. I have heard of plasterers using JC as a final coat b/c it is easier to sand/work with and you can’t tell the diff so I wouldn’t feel bad using it. I would work it out with the contractor since it sounds like you have a relationship with them. It could be an honest mistake and in that case they will do the good thing and fix it for free/warranty or nominal. I didn’t know about the plaster not sticking until it just fell off (nothing like doing something twice!).
On ceiling we just took all the plaster off and left the lath and used 5/8″ blueboard (it is really friggin heavy but is the accepted base board for plastering), then base plaster then finish. Sort of the modern ver. of old time plastering. That is what I would do if the ceiling isn’t sound. I would try JC first (and remember to fiberglass tape all seams)–as I am not one for making more work for myself–I have enough! 🙂
SSL.