Hi all –
We’re in the midst of a kitchen remodel, getting ready to drywall. The old kitchen ceiling was basically dropped 8″ below the rest of the room like a giant soffit. We ripped that out and need to fill in the 10 x 12 hole to tie it in to the existing dining room and hall ceiling.
The remaining existing ceiling is 5/8″ drywall on 16″ o.c. joists. This was covered in painted over popcorn which we mostly scraped off (fortunately no asbestos). The scraping caused a few tears and gouges in the paper and there’s still some popcorn residue and paint on it.
So thinking this through, I’m looking at 3 options:
1) Try to copy my neighbor’s troweled plaster ceiling. She had this done about 15 yrs ago, and I kind of like the look. Not sure what product they used though – she says it was “thinset plaster” whatever that is. It’s pretty hard, can’t dent it with a fingernail, with a slightly sandy texture. Almost like they mixed sand with durabond 90, smacked it up there and troweled it down to 1/8″ or so in a random pattern.
2) Either fill in the hole with 5/8 drywall or fur out the joists 5/8 and then cover the whole room with new (1/2 or 5/8?) drywall. Hide my crappy tape job with a spray/knockdown or painted texture. Wall/ceiling joints will be covered with crown or cabinet runs.
3) Hire a pro to come skimcoat plaster the entire thing to a flat finish.
I’m tempted to try #1, but I’m not sure about adhesion. Is there some sort of primer I need to use over the old scraped popcorn? Durabond 90 for the troweled plaster, or something else? Mostly looking to save money, but if this is a dumb idea to try myself please stop me. Budget’s not super tight on this project but there’s other things I’d like to spend the $ on.
Thanks, Steve
Replies
not sure I'm drawing the right picture in my head...but why not fill in the 10x12 area with new rock, tape mud sand, then texture spray the whole ceiling? Seems the cheapest way to me.
Do a search for D-mix
Here's one thread, there are dozens more.
http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=54559.1&maxT=8
Joe H
Thanks for the link on Dmix. Somehow I missed those threads, sounds like that's the way to go. Steve
Ceiling work can make your shoulders hurt real quick. Be sure to cover everything you don't want mud to fall on.
I would not go back with a popcorn texture. I would go with #1. Since you're going to float the entire ceioling, the new joints should end up looking as good as the originals.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt