Plasterboard celiing cracks

[Stephen]

Is there any way to make these disappear ?

We have smooth painted ceilings - very thin skim mover plasterboard.

Trouble is that whoever put them up 12 years ago never taped the joins before skimming, so they keep opening up.

We've tried "thick" paint, many of the proprietary crack fillers from people like Polyfilla and Unibond, but no use.

I've tried filling the cracks as they are (nothing more than 1mm across) and raking out to 4or5 mm before filling.

Nothing works.

Is there a way or do we have to have all of the ceilings re-skimmed (and taped first) ??

Any help much appreciated.

Stephen

[Set Square]

You could stop walking around in the rooms above them - they shouldn't move, then.

[Chris Bacon]

This can happen even when the joints have been taped.

You could try squeezing in PVA/water, see earlier thread about repairing plaster and lath ceilings. I've used this on one plasterboard ceilings, no cracks after 6 months, don't know about after that as the house was sold.

You could also try digging out a little skim, to see whether there is tape or not - if there is none, you might be able to chip/prise off the skim, apply tape, and use drywall filler to re-finish. It might also be worth putting in some more fixings (drywall screws, taking care not to drive them in so far that the screw head goes through the paper, or 50mm ELH clouts) - fixings should be every 4".

[daddyfreddy]

I'd suggest cutting out a fat v-groove very deep, filling that with plasterboard joint filler, taping over and using plasterboard filler over that, then just feather out as far as needs be.

[PeTe33]

Personally i'd rather see a few cracks than a raised "lump" I would suggest it would become far more annoying than the cracks as the light from the windows would highlight the raised surface far more, and that's a lot of work to do for possibly an even worse result.

IMHO

[The Natural Philosopher]

Have you tried decorators caulk in about 5mm or wider raked out cracks?

It has enogh give to be OK ..

Otherwise rake out a wide shallow V, and use tape, and skim over.

You may have an undelying expansion of whatever is behind to allow for as well.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Set Square wrote: very thin skim mover plasterboard.

There lies your problem. :-(

Plaster has to go on thick as possible when it comes to ceilings.

Try some no nails and really work it into the cracks then wipe eccess off the ceiling itself.

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[Stephen]

Thanks, but that would be the loft !

[Slurp]

Best permanent cure is to cover the ceiling with blown vinyl then colour to choice. Looks far more attractive than a plain ceiling IMHO

Slurp

[Set Square]

In that case, what size are the ceiling joists, and are you storing anything heavy above the ceiling?

[daddyfreddy]

If you do it properly, like I do ;-), then you won't see any lump as you feather it out. You feather it out so you 'lose' any noticeable deviation. If you're using tapered edge plasterboard where you've butted the square edges up you'd do the same.

In any case, I've yet to see a perfectly flat ceiling. Stick a long straight edge against any one of your ceilings and you'll see they deviate a lot.

[Stephen]

Just empty cardboard boxes. Ceiling joists - whole thing built on pre-assembled W frames - actual timber size about 100 x 30mm (with a few larger pieces at strategic points).

Aah - the wonders of a 1980s house.

[Lobster]

I wonder if there would be any mileage in tackling the problem from above; assuming the cracks are not immediately below and parallel with ceiling joists, would it be worth gluing slabs of new plasterboard down to the ceiling to reinforce the joints? That would surely eliminate any movement at the crack, because the ceiling would then be strongest, rather than weakest, at that point.

David

[.]

could you not just paper over the cracks with lining paper ?

[zymurgy]

Decorators Caulk ?

This is like very thick emulsion.

Alternatively there's a Polycell 'flexible gap filler' which is a beggar to rub down smooth, as it has a similar texture to silicone sealant, so make sure it goes on smooth.

Cheers.

Paul.