Smoothing a textured ceiling

[Margarita]

Hi there,

I am buying a unit that has one of those textured painted ceilings.

Does anyone know if it is possible to have the ceiling smoothed and then painted and leave the cornices in place? If so, is this a painter's or a plasterer's job? I don't really want the textured ceiling as a feature and prefer a plain smooth ceiling. Some friends mentioned the ceiling may have been textured this way to allow for quicker, cheaper work when it was built.

The unit is only about 90 square metres so would probably aim to do it all and get the mess out of the way before moving in.

Any advice about this process would be very much appreciated.

[rod@plasterbrok]

I can be done Margarita.

Just how depends on how the texture was applied in the first place.

Some texture ceilings were done with vermiculite spray onto the surface. If this is the case it may be a bit more tricky to fix.

If it is a painted on texture finish it is not so difficult to fix.

First thing is to make sure there are no loose paint. if so it needs to be scraped back. If the texture finish is on the soft side and can be partially reduced by either scraping or a heavy 80 grit sand paper, just to get rid of any really high spots. (You never know sanding might smooth it right off if it is soft enough).

Then I would skim coat the ceiling with top coat this is a plasterers job if you don't think you can do it yourself.

When skim coating with topcoat over a painted surface tiny little pin holes can appear in the top coat. These happen because the paint surface is not very porous. No amount of troweling will get them out so don't stress over them. When it is dry just scrape off the tops of the bubbles and give it another skim coat over that area and they will dissapear.

Don't be fooled by sanding them out. What happens is the pin holes fill with dust and look like they are gone, but when the paint hits them they show. If that happens to you give them another very thin coat of top coat and resand after the first coat of paint.

When you skim coat with topcoat you don't need to be to worried about leaving raised trowel marks as you are applying the top coat, they sand of very easy. Most important is to not leave hollow spots. It also helps to thin down a bucket of topcoat with about 2 cups of water to the bucket. This will help with the spreading.

Let me know if it is vermiculite as you will need to tackle things a little differently.

Hope this helps.

Cheers Rod.

[Margarita]

Hi Rod,

Thanks so much for your quick and detailed reply - very kind of you. I am really pleased to know it can be done - can now put it on my pre-move to do list. I will most likely get a professional in to do it but maybe I will be able to help with some of the preparation / sanding (will see what they say).
I'll be sure to post back with the details/ costs/ final result etc as some others may find the info useful. If was interesting when I was looking around at units during inspections that when it was a smooth ceiling people didn't usually comment, yet the textured ceilings frequently got unfavourable remarks. Even though my unit is a few years old I noticed some of the very new ones were still doing it and found that quite surprising - didn't sort of go with the minimalist kitchens and clean line look.
Anyway - thanks so much - this forum is fantastic!!
Margarita

[katydid]

We had a huge room with a ceiling finished in thios way - and it had a large ares in the middle that some-one had attempted, badly, to repair and simulate the same finish. After discussion with a number of plasterers we decided to have it all sanded back, skimmed and sanded again- and then painted.
Best decision we ever made was to have the experts do it. It is a neck breaking job - balanced on a platform with paint/plaster dust stuck all over your face with your aching arms desperately trying to sand just one more time - is only something that any sane person would do for payment!
Surprisingly it was not super expensive but the result was great!

[Margarita]

Hi Katydid

Thanks for that info - am pleased you were happy with the result and thought it a worthwhile thing to have done. Yes, agree about the neck pain working on a ceiling. I'm sure plasterers and painters have muscles that are adapted to that kind of work.

[Jacksin]

I dont know if it would work, but what about hiring one of those power sanders the gyprock blokes use with rough paper to sand off, if its only texture painted?

What do you say Rod?

[rod@plasterbrok]

It is a very good thought, I have never put it to the test on a painted surface. They are a powerfull sanding device and fairly comfortable to use.

It would be worth a try, if the type of texture finish is just paint, itwould be worth a try

I don't know if you could advise someone to try that in all cases, due to the many differnet types of texture finished out there. I can see it certainly working on some and not on others. Just thinking back over some of the jobs I've done, where the texture has been created by sand and cement and other products. The sander would not work on those.

Cheers Rod