Cracks in a stipple ceiling ...

DJKAV

I recently bought an old house with the intention of doing up .. but there are some very long(6foot in places) small cracks in the ceiling .. the ceiling is stippled in every room can anybody give me advice to sort these cracks ?
Do I have to replace the whole ceiling or can I touch up in places and the fact that the stipple is there will that be a bigger job allround

ART6

First question is what sort of ceilings are they? Are they plasterboard that has been Artexed or something? The six foot long cracks would suggest that they are plasterboard. Artex doesn't usually crack, but it can happen.

The next question is what is above them -- are we talking about downstairs or ceilings that are below an attic? People board over attics but the rafters are not designed for walking on, so the ceiling below cracks. If that's the case then whatever you do the cracks will open again if anyone walks about in the attic or stores heavy things in there.

DJKAV

nothing in one room thats the one with the big crack... i`ts plasterboard throughout the whole house... and all rooms are cracking around the sides also ?>

ART6

It's the stipple that's going to be a problem as you say. If plasterboard ceilings are going to crack it will always be around the edges of each panel, and on a plain ceiling the best way of dealing with that is to cover the whole ceiling in lining paper, but if the stippling is fairly pronounced that won't work. The only other way I can think of is to use something like Polyfilla painted into the cracks with a brush, but something is causing the ceilings to crack so there must be some movement somewhere. If that's the case then they will simply crack again in time. Has the house been unoccupied for some time and got damp?

mossie110

the only way that comes to mind is to use a flexible filler it comes in tube (like a silicone tube) you can get it in any paint or hardware shop. you will have to use a silicone gun. as the flexible filler is water based after you squeeze the filler to the whole crack. push the filler in to the crack with a damp sponge or you finger. reapply if necessary then repaint.
as the filler is flexible it will move with any movement in the ceiling. so reducing the crack for reopening.
hope this helps.

ART6

mossie110 wrote: »

the only way that comes to mind is to use a flexible filler it comes in tube (like a silicone tube) you can get it in any paint or hardware shop. you will have to use a silicone gun. as the flexible filler is water based after you squeeze the filler to the whole crack. push the filler in to the crack with a damp sponge or you finger. reapply if necessary then repaint.
as the filler is flexible it will move with any movement in the ceiling. so reducing the crack for reopening.
hope this helps.

Yes, that's a good potential solution. I would suggest acrylic filler (Painter's mate or similar) since that is not silicone and can be painted over, so later painting the ceiling would be straightforward.

DJKAV

would it be better to just replace the plasterboard altogether? over the old plasterboard .. or start afresh and tear it all down do a right job.

ART6

I've never heard of anyone putting plasterboard on top of plasterboard, and can't think why anyone would want to. In any case, I am not sure that you can buy plasterboard nails that are long enough to allow you to do that. As for tearing the ceilings down and starting again, obviously you could, and this time make sure the joints are taped, but personally I would only do that if I wanted to get rid of the stippled finish, since it doesn't answer the question of what caused the cracking in the first place. If it was me, being lazy, I would give Mossie's suggestion a shot first, although re-boarding a ceiling is not the most difficult of jobs.