I have an old house with plaster lath walls and ceilings. The paint in one of my bedrooms is flaking and peeling. To start I went around with a scraper and chipped/scraped off all loose paint.
The paint was thick and left ridges around all scraped areas.
My question is what is the best way to fill these holes / smooth out ridges.?
Does ordinary drywall compound work best?
Should I tape and mud the cracks in the plaster?
Thank you in advance for any help,
Jumbo
Replies
Without being too difficult, I wold need to know more before I give advice.
What it "thick"? How much of the paint came off the walls, in percent? How old is the house (ie. is there a likelihood more paint will flake soon)? Is there a reason the paint failed, like moisture, or is the plaster coming off the lathe?
If everything else is OK, I fill with mud, sand to the level and put on a good undercoat, then paint.
Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the Handyman
Vancouver, Canada
The thickness is approx 1/16" or slightly greater.
Probably less than 5% of paint chipped off. (many small areas)
House is 94 years old.
I did not see any signs of water to cause the paint to flake. What I did notice that under all of the flaking there were cracks in the plaster. The plaster seems to still be attached to the lath well. These were just small hairline cracks.
Another thing I thought of is to tape the cracks under the mud.
Thanks,
Jumbo
I've run into this problem in older houses too. Seems that once there are enough layers of paint, it just wants to come off. Could be that after so many layers of paint, they just lose their elasticity and crack and chip. I would remove as much paint as possible, even if you gouge the plaster a bit. You can always fill the gouges. The thing I ALWAYS worry about in old houses is that there is undoubtedly some lead paint on 96 year old walls, so you don't really want to sand into the paint and release all that lead into the air.
If it's your own place, and you want it done right, I'd recommend trying to remove as much paint as possible using a scraper or putty knife. When paint is that thick, I've actually removed it like I would wallpaper; start at a spot where you can see bare plaster, spray enough water on the spot to soak the area below it, and work your way down and over. Plasterers may think I'm nuts, but a little water dries quickly and doesn't mess things up to much. You'd be amazed at how much better the finished product will be, and it is usually easier than you'd think. I've also used a heat gun, but make sure you have plenty of ventilation. You don't want to breath in that lead.
Have fun!
Heat gun at medium or lower won't vaporize lead..
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