We have an imperfect ceiling. The ceiling dips down in a 4" section across the room. When entering the room, the door causes the person to look directly at that area. We have muddied the area down enough so that it is not detectable. I believe that the problem now is that the defected area is visible because the line between the wall and ceiling is no longer straight.

Their are a few options.

1. Use a textured ceiling.
2. Add Molding to straighten the line!

I love the idea of the second option. I was thinking that we could add a speckled feature to the ceiling paint. This will help hide the bump by distracting the eye away from the bump.

Then I was thinking of using a two part ceiling molding. First, apply the molding on the walls, then use a corresponding molding that would go on the ceiling. This is a more expensive solution, and I fear that the imperfect line would carry over to the molding.

The second option is to use an angled molding. One that goes from the wall to the ceiling at a 45 degree angle.

Would either of these options work? The only other solution is to cut out the drywall on the ceiling, and replace it with a larger new peace of drywall.

I do not believe this is a not structural issue with the house, instead its normal housing settlement. The defect exists where a wall use to be. Instead of putting up a large peace of drywall, he cut out a 4 inch peace of drywall and then added it to the area.

I know a new peace of drywall wont "Fix" the overall issue, but may cause the dip to extend over a larger area.

I am not experienced in drywall and painting, but am a perfectionist. I know that this issue will drive me nuts!

Any other solutions? Will the solutions I provide work? What should I do?

Thanks,
Mike!

Edit: BEAR from HomeDepot can only add Sand or Glitter to the paint. Glitter is a white/silver shiny additive. I do not know of any other things to do?!?

 

How do you know it's not a structural problem? If the wall was load bearing and the wrong size header was used - the ceiling could sag.

I'm not a carpenter but I've painted miles of crown moulding, most single piece but some were 2 or 3 pieces mouldings [or more] Crown moulding sets on a 45` or there abouts. While it may hide minor defects it does follow the line of the wall/ceiling.

I've never added glitter to the paint and can't see how that would work. Back in the 70's glitter was added to some popcorn ceilings using a hand cranked hopper. Basically it blew the glitter onto the wet texture where it would stick as the texture dried. The same can be done for wet paint. An alternative method would be to take handfulls of glitter out of the bag and throw it onto the wet ceiling. That method takes more glitter as more will end up on the floor than sticking to the wet paint/texture.

 

I am not asking about the structural soundness of the area. The support structure of the area runs perpendicular of the area. Meaning that many joists cover the area and that the same joists cover the adjacent areas. So it is impossible to be the structure of the area. Instead the defect is probably a patch from a pre-existing wall, probably a walk in closet!

Therefor I am asking for advice in how to hide the issue! I am appreciative your response, but it provides no solutions

Mike

 

Do I have this straight? There is an infill 4" or so wide where there used to be a wall? And this is lower than the existing ceiling? By how much? How long is this area?
Can you put a crown molding tight to the low spot and level all the way around the room and then fill in the gap above the crown mold and below the ceiling? How much gap will this be?

or can you put it tight to the low spot and then several feet out tight to the rest of the ceiling and fill in the taper?

Can you paint the ceiling a flat black?

 

If you are indeed a perfectionist why not repair the area correctly instead of trying to hide it? Mark's response was right on the money. You need to determine with certainty that the problem is not structural. Just because there are "many joists in the area" doesn't rule out defective framing.

Why not just remove the drywall, figure out the why and then fix it?

 

The house is a ranch. The joists go from front to back. The defect goes from left to right. Its just not possible to be a defect in framing.

--Removing Drywall -- I think this is what I am going to do. Its the best way, and I think we can do a great job in the end. Is this what you mean by the "right way"?

Thanks,
Mike

 

A 4' section even if it goes across the joists, will still span 2-3 joists. The only way to know for sure is to remove the drywall so you can inspect the framing. It might be possible to tell by inspecting the joists from the attic. Are your rafters site built or do you have trusses?

If the affected area can't be fixed by floating out the mud, then you have to go back to square one; remove the drywall, assess the framing and fix as needed and then rehang and finish.

 

The joists do not go in the same direction as the defect!


+++++++++++ <--- WALL
+|| || || || <-- Joists (WOOD)
+|| || || || <-- Joists (WOOD)
+|| || || || <-- Joists (WOOD)
+=========== <-- Defect! (not wood!)
+|| || || || <-- Joists (WOOD)
+|| || || || <-- Joists (WOOD)
+|| || || || <-- Joists (WOOD)

Thus it is not a structural problem!

 

Probably what happened is there was a wall there. When they taped and mudded the wall ceiling lines on both sides of the wall, the added tape/mud thickness brought the ceiling down maybe up to 1/4 inch. Then after the wall was removed, someone filled that in. And instead of requiring either a 1/2 inch or 5/8ths piece of rock, they had to either add thicker sheetrock or firring first. They never thought that what they really needed to do was grind down that tape-mud, back down to the ceiling sheetrock, before piecing in a piece.

Are you up to that task? (Grindign, sanding, or perhaps even fabricating a homemade wide knife blade on a bench grinder to scrape down that thick mud?) If not, yes the opposing wall-ceiling line will reveal that dip. Molding could be cut along the top edge to somewhat decieve the eye, since the bottom edge will be straight. And yes, heavy texture will also mask it somewhat.

If the problem is not extremely severe, you could cheat somewhat and go out from the wall a couple feet, and start your scraping-sanding down from that point, to the wall, to get it straight at the wall.

 

Yea, this will be the solution if this latest muddling isn't good enough. The problem will be that opening up the ceiling will cause all the spray in, insulation to fall down

 

Depending on your ambition, and consideration of a mess -you could grind down even through the pieced-in sheetrock paper to the chaulk. Then vacuum the chaulk with duster brush, then Zinsser, then spray adhesive, then mesh tape it all solidly, then Durobond hard setting type, then topcoat mud. I have actually made such repair as this. It makes you feel like a surgeon.

Or - are you certain the blown in is right ontop the sheetrock? Could there be a plastic vapor barrier up there? Or could the blown in be on a layer of fiberglass batt insulation?

 

You don't say what the span of the room is in your OP. Is it possible that the 4" (if I read your OP correctly the width of the defect is 4" and it spans the entire room) wide defect is caused by a support beam?

The diagram you provided indicates that the defect runs perpendicular to the joists. I don't know the dimensions of the room, but it appears that a previous owner may have removed a bearing wall. What size are your joists and what is the span?