Question on fixing cracks in the ceiling
Cracks occurring at the junction of ceiling slabs are a headache for many citizens. You can deal with them, but the method depends on the width and depth of the defect. But in any case, so that it does not appear again, it is necessary to perform the following actions before termination:
- Clean the ceiling from the old coating;
- Strip the crack by removing the old putty or plaster from it;
- Moisten it thoroughly with water several times so that it soaks into the material.
If the cracks are very small, they need to be expanded to at least 3-4 mm so that the grout can penetrate inside. While the ceiling is soaking, prepare the mixture.
By the way, perhaps your efforts were in vain because you didn’t use a ready-made synthetic putty for sealing joints, but a home-made one made of gypsum and chalk. After drying, this mixture becomes very hard and crumbles during seasonal shrinkage of buildings. In the finished dry mixes, special additives are introduced that give the material elasticity and moisture resistance.
The content of the article
Sealing small cracks
Apply the finished mixture for sealing joints only to damaged sections of the ceiling, trying to push it into the cracks. Then use a spatula to remove excess. Wait until it dries completely, and then plaster the entire ceiling.
If the cracks are more than 3 mm wide, you can do one of the following methods:
- After the seams have dried, dilute a little more mixture, apply it with a thin layer on top, and then glue the strips of gauze on it, smoothing them with a spatula. When this layer is dry, continue to finish the entire area of the ceiling.
- After filling all the cracks, plaster the entire ceiling using a reinforcing mesh or Spider line fiberglass. Put dry the surface.
Deep cracks
After sewing the joint between the plates and filling it with a solution, prepare a strip of cotton or linen cloth, which should be several centimeters wider than the crack. It must be wet and dried to prevent shrinkage in the future.
Saturate the fabric with glue, put on the seam and smooth it out, then immediately apply putty on top.
Another option is to fill the seam soaked with water with mounting foam. After drying, the excess is cut flush with the surface of the ceiling with a sharp knife, the ceiling is completely putty.
For reliability, I recommend in this case, use fiberglass over the entire area to be trimmed. It can also be glued after finishing the rough finish on a polished surface, if the ceiling is planned to be glued with wallpaper or ceiling tiles.
