skimming a ceiling after removing artex

[mk2phil]

Our living room has an artexed ceiling which I've started to remove. I imagine some people will say that I needn't have bothered, but there were lots of blown sections. It also had noticable cracks and join lines between the boards which I wont to do away with.

It's a 50's house, and what they've done is plaster the ceiling and then artex on top of that. Fortunately this means it's quite easy to scrape/chip the plaster/artex off to reveal the original boards underneath. However, in the process of scraping the old plaster and artex off, i've made lots of little digs into the plasterboard underneath. I really dont want to rip all the ceiling down and re-board it, so is it possible to re-tape and re-skim the original boards - chips and digs included?

I've assumed that any digs or imperfections in the plasterboard will be covered with the new skim anyway, so in theory wouldn't cause a problem. Is this the case?

I've also thought about boarding over the top of the existing ceiling to avoid the mess, but it's a low ceiling and I dont want to make it worse - or carry more weight!

Thanks for any help guys.

 

[Richard C]

I'm very surprised if you've managed to get the plaster off the boards as well This would usually cause so much damage it has to be over boarded. Whose skimming the ceiling? If your getting a plasterer in, I would seek their advice/OK before going any further with any prep. work as some (including me) prefer to do their own prep.

You need to ensure the existing boards are securely fixed to the joists; they would have used nails originally which arn't the best. Check particularly where the boards have cracked & where it's along a joist line, secure the boards either side of the crack using drywall screws around every 200mm. Not much you can do about cracks accross the joists exept put a new screw into ever joist where they coincide & reinforce with tape. I sometimes put 2 or even 3 slightly overlapping strips of reinforcing tape over the the cracks if they are really bad.

Small scrapes & digs will be OK but you need to rough fill the larger gouges & holes or the skim may shrink back & show slightly through the new finish; fill the new screw holes as well. If the ceiling is really rough, sometimes a light skim of Bonding plaster immedietly before the finish skim is a good idea.

Once you done that, give the ceiling a strong sealer coat of PVA (2:1 or 3:1) & let it fully dry for at least 12 hours. Tape over the cracks with reinforcing tape & PVA again with a weaker mix (4/5:1) immedietly before plastering & skim when it's tacky.

 

[mk2phil]

Thanks for your advice Richard - i'll take a photo tonight so you can see whether you think the damage is too heavy or not (assuming you dont mind coming back to this post to comment or course!).