General Question

syz's avatar

Anyone done ceiling repair?

Asked by syz (35938points) August 14th, 2008

So, we’re installing a home theater system and in the process, my girlfriend slipped off the attic beam and stepped on the ceiling drywall. Her foot didn’t go all of the way through, but the drywall has detached from the brace and has cracks radiating out from it (it’s a acoustic/popcorn texture). I’m hoping that if we’re really, really lucky, we might be able to use drywall screws to tuck the sheet of drywall back up, but then we’ll still have to cover the cracks. Do we need to use mud? Does that popcorn repair stuff in the can work? Is there any chance at all that we won’t have to paint the entire ceiling?

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8 Answers

augustlan's avatar

A friend repaired my kitchen popcorn ceiling with mud and used a broom (believe it or not) to kind of “swirl” and pockmark the mud. It’s not a perfect match to the rest of the texture, but pretty close. Screw it back to the beam, then mud & hope for the best. At worst you’ll have to have someone fix your fix, but at best, you’ll have saved a lot of money! As for paint…if the ceiling paint is old, it will not match the repaired spot, even if you use the exact same paint. I’m guessing you’ll have to repaint the whole ceiling.

Judi's avatar

Do you own or do you rent? If you own and can afford it, use the opportunity to scrape that ugly stuff off and put a smooth finish on your ceiling. It will modernize the whole room! If you don’t want to do that, the stuff in the can works OK but you should probably paint the whole thing. My husband is a contractor and he always says, “A patch is a patch.” It’s going to show, it just depends on the skill of the person doing it how much it will show.

augustlan's avatar

@Judi: I’d love to get rid of our popcorn…do you or your hubby know if you can scrape it off a plaster ceiling? That’s what I’ve got. such a pain

Judi's avatar

He’s not home now but I’ll ask him. I know he has done plaster before but I have only watched him do drywall. He’s a contractor and started his career doing drywall contracting. If anyone knows it will be him. I may not get back to you until Saturday though. You will probably have an answer by then.

Judi's avatar

OK I talked to him. He said YES you can take the popcorn off plaster, and that we had thin-wall plaster in our ceiling in the house we live in now when he took it off. He said hire a good drywall guy and it should cost you between $1.00 to $2.00 a square foot to have it scraped and floated and prepped for paint. He said they have to wet it and scrape it then float it with drywall mud. We’re in California, prices may change by region.

augustlan's avatar

Thanks for the info!

breedmitch's avatar

@Judi: That’s good fluther!

Judi's avatar

@breedmitch;
Thanks!

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