Patching up a vermiculite ceiling

[dan_pags]

Hi,
this is my first ever post so please go easy on me if I sound stupid :)

I have a 1970s unit with a vermiculite/popcorn ceiling. I painted the ceiling a year ago with a spray gun which was all fine. Now I am installing a new kitchen and have just discovered that underneath the old pantry, there is no vermiculite, just the metal tray that the concrete for the floor above us was formed in. This is a reasonably large area of the ceiling (500mm by 900mm)In order to complete the kitchen renovation I need to patch up this hole with something that when painted will look enough like vermiculite so as not to draw attention. When the unit next to ours was renovated earlier in the year, the guys doing it managed to get away with fastening a bit of gyprock up there and painting it will some sort of coarse texture paint, but I'm not really sure what sort of paint it was. I had also considered getting some loose vermiculite that I have and gluing it to the gyprock to try and mimic the texture. Can anyone give me any advice or suggestions on whether they think the gluing and paintinng approach will work or alternatively what sort of texture paint I might be able to use to get a fairly coarse finish? Also, can I just get this sort of texture paint from Bunnings or will I need to get it from a special supplier?
Thanks in advance,
Dan

[rod@plasterbrok]

Look up in the yellow pages you will find someone that sprays vermiculite. They will spray it on for you. Any attempt to make it up yourself for that sort of area will look bad.

You could try these guys.

http://www.yellowpages.com.au/imagecache/151/2007060115435971_y6194151/normal.gif

[dan_pags]

Thanks very much for that - I didn't realize that they still used this stuff :)

Cheers

Dan

[phmag]

I'm in Coogee in Sydney and facing a similar problem.

I've had a wall removed between kitchen and lunge in a small unit on the top floor and now an approx 140mm gap exists in the space between vermiculite ceilings for about 2.3metres and then turns left for another 0.8m. We assumed a spray/repair vermiculite person could fix and patch but have been told by one person who patches small areas with vermiculite it's not possible for such a large area in the middle of the room.

I'm either looking for someone in the Sydney area that CAN fix it or any other solutions?
Timber pieces over the top as a feature maybe?

Any help, advice or information would be superb,

Michael

[rod@plasterbrok]

I don't know if a "feature" would look like a feature!!

Michael I have no experience in repairing vermiculite so I cant give you any real advice other than call those who know and be advised by them.

Maybe you could find out why they said it could not be done. I could have a guess that it may have something to do with shrinkage and still being able to see the join.

If that is the case perhaps the area can be prefilled with plaster then sprayed over the area say 1 m either side blending it back into the existing, or you may find they need to put a light coat over the entire ceiling to colour match. I may be wrong here and stand to be corrected.

Any one else have an idea?

Cheers

[bsrlee]

You could just grind the vermiculite back. Friends of mine recently moved - across the hall (that was fun) and their new flat has had this done plus the ceiling has been painted white instead of left cement grey. It is amazing how much brighter the new place seems with the same amount of lighting - the textured ceiling seems to just suck light and the smoother finish is no noisier.