Ceiling -plaster or stucco, how to repair and remove

[aliyaddison]

Hi, please forgive me as I am not familiar with the correct terminologies. We just purchased a 70 year old home which over the years has seen several extensions added on. All the ceilings are in bad shape and almost all need repairs. The most recent extension (we believe) was heavily stucco'd on the ceiling. Overall we would like to remove the textured ceilings as they are very inconsistent in texture and poorly done. First off I believe some of it is plaster and some is actual stucco, BUT HOW DO YOU TELL. In the living room we want to keep the textured area (I think it's plaster) as the corners near the ceiling are all curved and are like a smooth patterned design all around. It is hard to describe but very pretty. The inner most section of the ceiling (majority of the ceiling) is the textured area. There are several small cracks that need repair before we repaint. HOW DO WE REPAIR THESE? The remaining ceilings that are textured we want to smooth out but again we don't know first if they are stucco, or plaster or something else. A few sections we quickly looked at don't seem like they are going to scrape easily. ANY IDEAS? ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED. We can't afford to hire someone and we are willing to do it ourselves even if it takes a long time. We just need to know how. Thank you to anyone who can help.

[marksr]

Welcome to the diy forums

Is it possible for you to post pics? using photobucket.com or similiar

The original house is most likely plaster, hard to say about the additions.
The original house may have lead paint and asbestos texture. Asbestos was banned in the late 70's, lead paint was banned from residiential use in the early 70's although it is unlikely it was used for wall paint since the 60's. There are tests that can be done to determine if you have either one.

Is your ceiling texture popcorn? I doubt it is stucco [a masonary product] A lot of textures respond to scraping and wetting.

Once you've removed the texture, repairing the cracks is simple, it may require drywall tape and several coats of mud [joint compound/durabond]

[GinoReno]

Well when it comes to the removal of the textured cielings, depending on the year of the house, if some rooms have been more recently been textured or stucco or whatever on flat ceilings you will have a chance by using your average spray bottle and soakeing it then scraping it with a 6" up to 12" trowel. If it is original and the house is old it is probly plaster on actual plaster cielings and walls, so your best bet would be repair or re-drywall new. The cracks in that nice rounded ends cielings, general sheet rock 45 90 or compounds unless tapes and mudded outward will crack almost immediatly or over time, so your best bet iw ould say would be to use a DAP in the tube, the painter's line will do great, it will create a more strechier bond so if the crack shifts it will hold on much longer, make sure to push the dap in as deep into the crack as much as you can, if the cracks are larger then i am thinking , maybe 3/8 or greates then whatever textured material that will best match what is there something with a more concrete like solidness for strength not to crack. I can't quite remember what else you wrote now but if you need any more help please post. Hope i was helpful!

Sean
F.S.T. Renovations

[aliyaddison]

Thank you for the replys. I greatly appreciate it. I would love to email you some photos as I don't know how to add them on this sight, so if you want to email me I will send a few on to you. My email address is waterman112928@yahoo.ca. Thanks again for your responses. I am finding it very frusterating that we can't paint the walls until we address the ceilings but the ceilings everywhere are a mess in one way or another. Any help is welcomed.

[marksr]

Posting e-mail addresses isn't allowed - it protects you from unwanted spam [as if anyone wants some ] If you wish to give someone personal info, it should be done thru private message - just click on the persons screen name and follow directions.

Most use photobucket.com to post pics but there are others that will also work - just provide the link.