How best to fill these ceiling/freeze cracks (pics inc.)

[Gille]

Hello all not been on here for a while but it's time to decorate the hall, stairs and landing and could do with some help.

The landing ceiling was skimmed about 3 years back but cracks appeared after about 12 months. They are really annoying me now so time to sort them out.

As you can hopefully see from the pics I have a few problems:

- the first was my paint finish, I was new to painting fresh plaster and made the mistake of no mist coat, hence I have a thickish layer of paint that has not bonded well to the plaster.

- the second is the cracks - as you can see I have stripped the paint back and raked out the cracks and removed any loose plaster.

My first question is have I done enough prep work? Secondly what filller would you use? And finally do you think I should be able to blend the paint finish in with the rest of the ceiling.

 

[LJW61]

Fill with Easifill or Tetrion ..Then Lining paper for a perfect & stable finish

 

[Richard C]

I undertake repairs to walls like that all the time & no amount of filler or lining paper is going to sort those cracks out, they will return. You have some underlying problems there, almost certainly not serious but will require a lot more work than just raking out & filling if you want a permanent repair. In the first 3 pics it looks as though the skim coat has completely blown & you can see a gap behind it; tap it, if it sounds hollow, it’ll have to come off. The base coat behind also looks to be cracked & there is a strong possibility that the walls behind that also have corresponding cracks. That vertical crack in line with the door looks like it may be associated with movement of the door lintel.

The only way to permanently repair this type of thing is to remove the plaster locally back to the bricks/blocks for inspection (skim & base); if they are also cracked, the plaster has to be completely removed at least 200mm either side, carry out local repairs/re-pointing, fix steel lath reinforcement over the area, re-rendered the repair & then re-skim, ideally the whole wall; success rate is high but even then there are no guarantees.

Do a little more research by having a look through the plastering forum archive where I've posted many times on such repairs then come back if you have specific questions.

 

[Gille]

Thanks richard you have really cheered me up!

I have tapped around the areas and there are some hollow spots, the house is old and has suffferd from movement but according to our surveyor it's longstanding. I was hoping to get away with something less radical than your fix. In one of the pics you can see some timber exposed and this is where the original plaster is blown.

I am no good at plastering. If I did remove the full section back to the wall is it possible to just board over and then using lining paper on top of the boards?

 

[Richard C]

Thanks richard you have really cheered me up!

Just telling it the way it is.

I have tapped around the areas and there are some hollow spots, the house is old and has suffferd from movement but according to our surveyor it's longstanding. I was hoping to get away with something less radical than your fix. In one of the pics you can see some timber exposed and this is where the original plaster is blown.

You can’t repair/fill blown plaster; it’s no longer fixed to anything & will eventually fall off; it really should come off before you do anything unless you want to repeat the exercise every year of so.

I am no good at plastering. If I did remove the full section back to the wall is it possible to just board over and then using lining paper on top of the boards?

By “removing the full section back to the wall” I assume you mean to strip the complete wall of plaster & then dot & dab some boards over. Not as good as repairing the base coat IMO but it can actually be quiet effective over walls such as yours if you space the boards so the joints don’t line up with the cracks & it will tolerate a slight degree of movement. Please don’t put lining paper over it or, if you do, prime the boards first or nobody will ever get the bloody stuff of again; why are decorators so fond of it, all it does is mask underlying problems & I think it’s bloody awful. If not skimming, you’ll have to use taper edge boards, tape, fill, sand & paper by the time you’ve faffed around doing all of that, it still won’t look very good & you might as well have spent 100 quid or so to get it properly skimmed, at least it will look like a proper wall.

 

[Gille]

Thanks Richard, advice is appreciated and apologies if I ask any daft questions.

If I decide not to take everything back to brick/block and just go for a repair what is the best approach for patching up? I have checked the rest of the wall and all seems solid, I could open the cracks a bit wider as you descibed to take them back to a solid section but what materials are best to patch up?

 

[LJW61]

Easifill in two layers ...

 

[Gille]

is my patching area to deep for easifill? i had heared it can take an age to dry if a thick coat....

 

[LJW61]

I use it on depths up to 1" but in two applications, approx 18-24 hours apart depending on drying time/temperature..Superb stuff

 

[Richard C]

I use it on depths up to 1" but in two applications, approx 18-24 hours apart depending on drying time/temperature..Superb stuff

I think that about says it all really; a true tradesman’s approach to the problem.

Try it if you fancy it

 

[LJW61]

Two 1/2"layers - definitley not beyond the capabilities of Easifill on cracks illustrated by gille's photos... Obviously anything wider would require plasrteing

 

[Richard C]

Two 1/2"layers - definitley not beyond the capabilities of Easifill on cracks illustrated by gille's photos... Obviously anything wider would require plasrteing

Obviously the painter/decorator's solution then ; & you might as well stick some lining paper over it afterwards, it'll cover it up & help hold it all together for a year or so.

 

[LJW61]

..Isnt that what he was asking for otherwise it'd be in the plastering section?

 

[roughcaster]

If that was my walls, i wouldn't hesitate to rip it all off back to brick/block. Get a plasterer in, ask for a quote, and have it patched up properly.

 

[LJW61]

I agree with you and Richard if it was my wall I'd re-plaster them myself too ..
I just assumed from gille's post here in the painting & decorating section a cheap/quick 'decorators fix ' was sought...