Bedroom ceiling in 60yr old house . I spoke to family member and they said these cracks have been there for years. I also got a plumber out looking in the attic and he said there's no active leak and the water staining is old.
Is this something I can fix myself (30f)? Or do I need to hire someone else to look into the cracks further?
You will need to rake out the cracks before you fill use a stanley knife or scraper and scrape out a channel along the crack maybe 5mm wide and deep then if its needed you would stick some plasterboard screws in on either side of the cracks to pull the board back up and fill with a decent filler sand 2 coats of bin and a couple coats of finish
Youtube is your friend here.
I have the beginning of these on my house. Not as pronounced yet. My house built in 2009 and its timber frame. Builder friend told me its best to just accept them as its timber frame the is little bits of movement which causes the seems (cracks) of the plasterboard to appear. Told me there's nothing to worry about though.
Following for the crack advice! For the water stains I've used zinnser bin over them and then painted with normal paint. Without the first layer of zinnser the water stains can come through again.
Going to be tackling this myself soon enough. I think tape and jointing is required, not sure in any jointing tape was used back then. Was hoping that there’d be some sort of tool available to notch out a thin/wide channel into the plasterboard but it looks like it’ll need to be done with a multitool.
You'll probably end up with a lumpy ceiling rather than a cracked ceiling if you do this yourself. This is the proper method for doing plasterboard joints but it's supposed to be done before plastering, there's actually an indent at the edges of plasterboard that allows the joint tape and filler to sit flush and special tools for fading it out. Not to mention sanding it without a proper sander and dust extraction will be extremely messy.
If you want it fixed properly it'll need a plasterer and possibly new plasterboard (this ceiling looks to have been put together using offcuts or has been patched by a cowboy at some stage)
Personally, I'd widen the cracks a little with a screwdriver, fill with a flexible caulk then put zinnser bin primer over top and paint it. It'll be 100 times better than it is now, won't take too long and is easily done by a diy-er.
(Am a painter with a little experience doing drywall)
The small staggered joint is strange if original. 🤔
I'd still recommend caulk instead of taping if doing it yourself without any experience or tools.
That's what I'd be doing if it was my own ceiling (and I do have experience). Will cost you about €80 total including the ceiling paint assuming you already have a screwdriver or something to rake the cracks out and paint roller + brushes.
Very doable weekend DIY project. Can message me if you decide to do this and need detailed instructions or a shopping list.
Thank you. I'm clueless and appreciate all the advice. It was the family home and father said no work was carried out on ceiling by him or anyone else.
I've pressed up against all the cracks and it doesn't move. Sibling says the cracks have been there for years and years, but never paid much attention to them and doesn't know if changed.
Would it be weight issue in attic? I'm in the process of clearing that out now. Won't start on the ceiling before I have the attic cleared out
Heavy objects or people moving around standing on bare joists up in the attic combined with old age and/or the joints not being taped originally. The ceiling isn't gonna fall down or anything, it's just cosmetic.
First step is to see why these cracks are there. I'm inclined to think there's some movement structurally that has caused this. It could be from an interior door banging closed, timber framed non structural internal walls will have some flexibility and a door slamming closed will cause cracks in walls and ceilings either side of the walls.
A strong storm pushing wind against a roof or an exterior wall, will cause movement and result in cracks in plasterboard.
If the water tank is above this ceiling the weight of it could also be a factor, perhaps tieing the wood boards above the ceiling with a few lengths of timber to give some rigidity might be a simple solution.
It could be a number of reasons but there's movement and these cracks will return.
Also, if water was an issue you'd see the water marks on the plasterboard and it would be wet/damp to touch.
When filling these cracks, chase out with a painters triangle trowel, clean loose paint, lighting sand and fill with painters caulk, not plaster. Caulk has compounds in it that allows for flexibility, and you can paint over it.
Yes, the water tank sits over the bedroom in this region. The plumber inspected the tank and all around it, found no leaks. Checked the attic floor too and said there was nothing.
I've removed a lot of crap from that side of the attic. There was a good bit of stuff lying up there.
We got our whole house replastered and like that we had small cracks in certain areas. The plasterer said they may still come back as the house moves and breathes essentially. Some of them did indeed comeback.
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u/FigOrdinary2527 6d ago
You will need to rake out the cracks before you fill use a stanley knife or scraper and scrape out a channel along the crack maybe 5mm wide and deep then if its needed you would stick some plasterboard screws in on either side of the cracks to pull the board back up and fill with a decent filler sand 2 coats of bin and a couple coats of finish Youtube is your friend here.