hair line cracks in ceiling

[alecgreen]

Hi

I have a couple of hair line cracks in the plaster on my ceiling, can anyone please suggest the best way to deal with them.

Thanks

Alec

[Tim S]

alecgreen coughed up some electrons that declared:

Paint some diluted PVA, making sure it soaks in to the crack. Repeat perhaps once more until it looks like it's solid. Worked for me.

Or, the old fashioned way: cut out the crack with a knife, inverse V shape and fill.

Wait around - probably more suggestions coming...

[A.Clews]

Thus spake alecgreen ( [e-mail]) unto the assembled multitudes:

Tell the people in the room above to make love a little less energetically. ;-)

Ah, but seriously... personally I'd use a gauging tool to widen the cracks into grooves, then use a proprietory filler on them before repainting.

[meow2222]

Take some filler on the tip of your finger, wipe along the crack, wipe off any excess crud, done.

Dont follow the often given advice of digging the crack out wider, it merely makes it worse, takes more time to fill decently, and makes any imperfections more visible. Modern fillers stick well enough without gouging the plaster.

NT

[Chris J Dixon]

Whilst this will undoubtedly make things look fine after repainting, perhaps the bigger question is, how long will the repair last?

One could argue that better preparation might result in a longer period before the crack reappears, due to whatever movement caused it in the first place.

OTOH, if it is going to happen anyway, a finger full of filler is the least possible effort expended on a recurring task.

Chris

[Mark]

If there is flexing in the ceiling then use a flexible filler otherwise the cracks will reappear. BTDTGTTS.

[meow2222]

No filler is going to stop the ceilng moving, regardless of how its applied. IME filler pressed in by finger it stays there when the ceiling moves, it doesnt fall off. IOW theres no advantage in damaging the plaster further.

NT