Reasons for the appearance of ceiling cracks and their types, diagnosis of damage, materials necessary for work, methods of sealing and masking cracks in the ceiling. Cleaning the ceiling and cutting cracks is a very dusty job. Therefore, before the start of the repair, it is worth, if possible, freeing the room from furniture and equipment or covering them with foil.
After determining the scope of the upcoming work, you can purchase materials and prepare tools. Of the tools for repairing cracks in the ceiling, you will need: a spatula 10-15 cm wide, a brush for removing the old coating, sandpaper and a spray gun for painting the ceiling.
You also need to purchase such materials: gypsum putty, sealant, PVA glue, polyurethane foam and paint for the topcoat. If the ceiling is subject to spot repair, the paint must be selected in the same shade and brand that was used earlier. With a new painting of the entire ceiling, you can choose any paint color.
How to fix small cracks in the ceiling
Small damage to the ceiling will not require significant effort. The work is done like this:
- Before repairing a crack in the ceiling, you should clean out its edges by removing the old coating - chalk or paint. For this procedure, it is convenient to use a spatula and a metal brush.
- The cleaned surface must be moistened with water using a brush or spray.
- Then the required amount of putty should be applied to the crack to seal the defect along its entire length and depth. Excess putty must be removed, and the surface of the sealed crack must be leveled with a spatula along the plane of the ceiling.
- After 24 hours, which are necessary for the filler to dry, the crack must be sanded with an abrasive mesh or sandpaper.
- After that, the embedment site should be cleaned of gypsum dust, primed with an aqueous solution of PVA and covered with a finishing layer.
How to remove large potholes in the ceiling
Sealing large cracks in the ceiling requires a slightly different algorithm of work:
- It is necessary to clean the edges of the pothole from the old coating and its cavity from debris or plaster.
- The crack should then be filled with a cloth, sealant or polyurethane foam. After the polyurethane foam has hardened, its excess must be cut off with a knife.
- After that, the gap must be sealed with a serpentine tape or a strip of linen or cotton fabric. Its width should be 2-3 cm wider than the crack width. Before pasting, the material must be moistened in PVA glue and spread on the surface of a closed crack.
- After the glue has dried, put putty on top of the fabric strip and carefully level it in the same plane with the ceiling using a spatula.
- When the putty mixture hardens, the place of the crack must be sanded, the gypsum dust removed, the finished surface must be primed and covered with a finishing layer.
Sealing cracks in plasterboard ceilings
If the work technology is violated or condensation forms in the cavity between the base and plasterboard ceilings, cracks may form on the front surface of the suspended structure.
If a crack occurs due to peeling paint or putty, the procedure is as follows:
- Use a spatula to completely remove the defective area.
- The cleaned surface should be treated with a fine abrasive mesh and dust removed with a brush.
- After that, the damaged section of the ceiling must be primed and kept until dry.
- Then you need to prepare the putty and fill the damaged spot of the ceiling with it with a spatula.
- The applied layer should be carefully leveled taking into account the plane of the ceiling and left to dry for a day.
- After the putty has hardened, the surface must be sanded to perfect condition and the gypsum dust removed.
- Then the problematic section of the ceiling must be primed and painted several times until its color is as close as possible to the main background of the ceiling.
- If, after that, the entire ceiling is painted with water-based paint, you can get its perfectly even color.
When cracks form at the joints of drywall sheets, you need to putty the cracks on the ceiling as follows:
- Clean the crack from the putty. If there is a serpyanka tape under it, it must be removed. If the tape is missing, the ceiling section must be stripped to its width or slightly more.
- Then the area freed from the putty must be cleaned with an abrasive mesh, and chamfered from adjacent sheets of gypsum board with a knife.
- Remove dust from the area and prime twice.
- Then the joints of the sheets and the chamfer should be sealed with putty and glued to the problematic seams filled with it with a serpentine tape.
- After the joints have dried, they must be treated with a putty again and primed again.
- Then the entire area needs to be putty, evenly distributing the material on the surface with a wide spatula. To fill all voids, this operation must be repeated after the previous layer of putty has dried.
- Putty and dry after a day, the surface of the joints should be sanded and primed again to ensure adhesion of the ceiling surface with the painting material.
- At the last stage of the work, you need to complete the general painting of the ceiling. The procedure will need to be repeated until the trace of the former crack disappears.
Advice! When the ceiling moves from pressing on it from below with a hand, the elimination of its cracks loses its meaning. In this case, the entire suspension structure should be disassembled and reworked.
How to disguise ceiling cracks
If there are small cracks on the ceiling, you can simply mask them. The simplest and most budgetary option is pasting the ceiling surface with expanded polystyrene or polyurethane tiles, which differ in a variety of sizes, materials of manufacture and colors. Its installation is simple, and it can be done alone, without the skills of construction work. To mask cracks in the ceiling with tiles, you should adhere to certain rules in your work:
- Before gluing the ceiling with tiles, it is necessary to determine its size and calculate its quantity.
- For correct calculations, you need to perform a diagram of the ceiling surface of the room. It will allow not only to determine the exact number of piece materials, but also the way of placing the tiles on the ceiling for the best masking of its defects.
- Some of the tiles will have to be cut when they are adjusted at the joints of the ceiling and walls. Therefore, the purchase of the material will need to be made taking into account this factor, that is, take it a little more than the estimated amount.
- During installation, the joints of the tiles should not fall on the defective areas of the base ceiling. Otherwise, there is a high probability of delamination of the facing material due to the opening or narrowing of cracks during the operational period.
Another, but more expensive option for masking ceiling cracks is the installation of suspended or suspended ceilings. For their device, preparation of the surface of the base structure is absolutely not required. Such ceilings can reliably mask not only cracks, but also differences in height. Behind a stretch or suspended ceiling structure, you can hide, in addition to defects in the main surface, any engineering communications. In addition, the ceilings have an excellent appearance and contribute to the renewal of the design of any room.
The masking of ceiling cracks has one significant drawback - the subsequent deformation of the floor is not visible. Therefore, as mentioned above, identifying and eliminating the causes of ceiling cracks is a top priority before starting its repair.
How to remove cracks on the ceiling - watch the video:
When carrying out major repairs, you need to pay attention to its smallest details and remember that the appearance of even a small crack in any structure of the house can lead to unpredictable consequences. When installing plasterboard ceilings, try not to deviate from the technology of their installation. After all, any problem is more difficult to fix than to prevent.
