stucco on ceiling?

[Newser]

I bought a house with a large drywalled ceiling on an outdoor lanai. While it doesn't get wet, the drywall tape separates and it's clear from the patching that this has happened frequently in the past. So I'm exploring some alternative ceilings and someone suggested putting up lath and stucco. I have questions about that:

1. Is this at all a good idea, or are there some strong reasons not to do it? (I haven't investigated cost, but will deal with that as a separate issue once I know what's viable.)

1. The joists in the ceiling are 24" o.c.. This would be the only holding point for the wire lath since the drywall won't support weight. So, would the lath+stucco sag?

2. If sagging would be a problem, I would think it could be solved by adding a plywood 'underlayment' (? overlayment ?). Do you think that would be satisfactory and, if so, what thickness plywood?

1. I would think doing ceilings would be highly unusual for most stucco contractors. So what questions should I ask them to help figure out whether they'd really be able to handle this?

Thanks in advance for any help or pointers.

[dadiOH]

No idea. What would happen if you ripped off all the miserable tape and gave the whole thing a thin coat of thinset (thicker over seams to level)? Thin it down and apply with brush or roller for texture? ___________

I would think so, don't know. Mostly I'm just killing time waiting for my wife so we can go to a movie :) ______________

1/2" should do it. Heck, you could use rotary sliced luan (cheap and innocuous), stain it, cover seams with solid wood with a nice shaped edge and have a jazzy paneled ceiling. I used to see those in Honolulu, looked good with a light wash of thin white paint. May do it myself on my front entry porch. ______________

"Can you do this? For sure"?

NP. We spend half our life waiting for traffic lights, the other half waiting for women :(

[Steve]

"Newser" wrote on 18 Apr 2008 in group alt.home.repair:

I would bet that you could rip off the existing ceiling and replace it with a fiber-cement product for close to the same price as a repair (for appropriate definitions of "close"). Hardy is the leading brand. It will be a permanent fix, other that usual painting.

[cshenk]

"Newser" wrote

Ouch. Then again, you may live in a less damp area than me. I certainly hope so!

Grin, I can think of several solutions. One is rip out the drywall and put up plywood. It's a more suitable product for outdoor 'ceiling'. Lathe if you mean what we use here (thin wood painted and pretty just as it is, sort of tounge and groove stuff) also works and will look better than plywood.

I'd feel irresponsible if i didnt warn you to take it real easy on the upgrades for the first 5 years. There are hidden bills you won't be expecting. Like, you suddenly find out that roof which seemed fine and the inspector said was fine, starts leaking at 2 years in and you need 7,000$ or something to have a new roof on.

Yes, first time it gets damp unless you use special exterior types such as houses in Florida have over the cinderblock construction. Not sure if that would sag on a ceiling or not. All I know is I never saw it used on an exterior one. (doesnt mean it can't be done, just never saw any who did it).

Have you considered for now, just using some sort of trimwork along in a pattern to hide the seams?

I am thinking of a neighbor of ours. He had a porch ceiling with obvious seams (plywood in his and my case) and he hid them nicely by just using contrasting vinyl based wallpaper border (meant for a bathroom). It was not intended to last more than 5 years til he could afford to do a fancy job, but it looked so nice he's kept it now for over 10 years. We are thinking of possible wood trims in our case. Something that would be a bit like faux beams would suit our screened porch well.

[Norminn]

We have a stucco ceiling in the atrium of our condo. The atrium is mostly open but for the roof and where the wings of the building form partial perimeter walls. We had roof repairs which included repairs to sagging stucco. I watched the process, which was pretty cool. It is wire lath, but don't know how far apart the rafters are.

[ransley]

Old issues might be a lack of venting. Consider instaling vents to let air circulate until you see if it still peels and you have other issues, or the stucco might just fall down with moisture problems

[Oren]

Yes. I had my patio ceiling stuccoed. *I* helped a friend built the patio cover.

I would suspect it would, especially if only nails were used to hang the sheet rock (24" OC). I would not risk lath over the sheet rock. I would pull the sheet rock down, clean up and install the metal lath.

In my are stucco is applied in three coats (scratch, brown and then finish).

If you tear out the sheet rock there would no cost for wood:)

It's done every day here.

Make sure they wire-tie the edges of the metal lath together. If they do not tie the edges you may see hairline cracks appear across the ceiling...

[DanG]

My dad lives in Florida and his patio and front porch were done with drywall. The tape lets go, though the drywall does not sag. I pulled the tape and left the drywall. Retaped with mesh tape and setting type drywall mud. 8 years with no signs of a problem.