How to blend in rough edges on ceiling patch repair?

[Sharpey]

Hi all.

Not so long ago I had a patch repair done to my ceiling and the skim coat was overlapped over the join and onto the good part of the ceiling. However, the entire perimeter of this repair is very rough and uneven and needs to be blended in to the rest of the ceiling so that is good to paint on.

Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what I mean

Patch repair

Close ups of edges

Could anyone please give me some advice on how to clean this up so that it's smoothed down and blended in?

Thanks.

 

[stevethespreader]

if you paid a pro to do that its a bad job, go and buy a bag of easifill and spread it over the join about 10inches eitherside all the way round then sand it down once painted hopefully you wont see it

 

[Sharpey]

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah it was a pro, it has left me annoyed but I didn't know what was a reasonable expectation as he says repairs are supposed to be hard. I've never done any plastering so is easifill fairly easy to spread?

 

[gregers]

bloody hell.
didnt the guy have a sponge to wipe/blend the edges?

 

[stevethespreader]

as he says repairs are supposed to be hard. I've never done any plastering so is easifill fairly easy to spread?

yes you would be amazed at the stuff if you have never used it before trowel it on and try not to be to fussy with it because it sands down beautifully, but the spread who done that dont know how to patch, i can patch things like that and no easifill will be needed afterward i use my wet brush and trowel to taper or feather the new skim ive done it hundreds of times and is not that hard to do

 

[Sharpey]

Gregers, yeah I know I had my doubts at the time but he said that is as good as it gets - guess he was lying!

Stevethespreader, thanks for the advice. I am going to buy a taping knife, would that be appropriate or should I just use a trowel (I have a rectangular one lying around somewhere)? Just looking for what is easiest for a novice.

Do I need to worry about trying to make the edges of the easifill slightly thinner or should I just spread the whole bit one depth and just sand down towards the edges after to flatten them out with the plaster? I imagine the easifill sands down to a smoth, paintable finish?

What about painting? Shall I just give the easifill parts a few mist coats like I was going to do with the plaster?

Sorry for all the questions!

 

[roughcaster]

What kind of ceiling do you have,,, lath and plaster, plasterboard? and what was the reason for the repair,, water leak, loose plaster etc.?? If that small repair is as good a job that the "plasterer" could do, i'd hate to let him loose on a whole ceiling.

For blending away bad edges/joins, and patches i use Ready Mixed "Gyproc Pro-Mix Lite". Spread a coat on, let it dry,,, put on another, let it dry too, (2 thin coats overall), then sand it down with a fine 150 grit sandpaper, then it's ready to paint.

 

[joe-90]

What kind of ceiling have you have,,,

What kind of lingo is that? Are you speaking Scottish?

 

[roughcaster]

Och aye the noo Joe,, never noticed that.

 

[Sharpey]

Roughcaster, the ceiling is plasterboard. There was a water leak. The Pro-mix, are there any particular advantages to it over easifill? As I am new to doing any sort of plastering I am liking the idea of only doing one coat (as with easifill).

 

[jrplastering]

i still use 2 coats with easy fill i usually dnt like the ready mix fillers as i find they shrink 2 much and you adress the area far to many times, but then ive never used the filler that RC suggested.
me i do easyfill un mixed powder one coat let it dry then seccond coat then sand down with find 150 works a treat and no shrinkage

 

[Sharpey]

Looks like it will be easifill then. JRplastering, any reason you go for two coats?

 

[roughcaster]

Roughcaster, the ceiling is plasterboard. There was a water leak.

The Pro-mix, are there any particular advantages to it over easifill?

Advantages,, yes,,,, it comes ready mixed, so very consistent,, very easy to spread,, it doesn't set, but dries in air, (whereas easifill goes solid after 90 minutes),, great for feathering out,, plus it's good to sand down. I wouldn't use anything else for that type of job. I prep and skim over whole walls and ceilings with it, especially if old wallpaper has taken away areas of paint. I put on 2 thin coats, letting each one dry out completely, then i'll sand it down with a 150 grit s/paper. You'd do it more or less the same way as with the Easifill, but it's comes already mixed up for you.

 

[roughcaster]

Give it a try JR. I know what you mean about shrinkage, but if your using it for a 2 coat feathering/wall skimming, you'll not see any shrinkage. You could go right over that "whole patch" of Sharpey's, and once it was sanded down and painted, you'd never know it was there,,, honest.

 

[Sharpey]

Thanks for all the help guys. Plenty to think about, I will see what they've got in the local builders merchants.