Water Damage Plaster Ceiling Repair

This home in Snyder, NY had a water leak around their fireplace chimney. This is actually quite common, the masonry of the chimney, reacts to temperature changes differently than the surrounding structure.

This has been an on going leak spanning many years.

We removed the water damaged plaster and drywall compound (from a previous repair) as well as chipped off the pealing paint. 60 years of paint, often will lose adhesion to the glass like finish of the plaster. So while a ceiling or wall may appear to be intact, after suffering water damage, chip the paint and it may all peal off with a sharp putty knife. You often can’t tell by just looking at it.

Using Drywall to Repair Plaster

Since this area was previously repaired using drywall compound, we used drywall compound to fix it.

Sometimes you can get away with using plaster to repair these previously repaired areas, however due to the paint issues (pealing) we opted to use compound instead. For one, drywall compound is extremely sticky, whereas plaster is not.

We used a piece of mold resistant drywall to fill in the hole. If/when this area leaks again, this will inhibit the growth of mold.

Priming & Painting the Ceiling

Once the damage was repaired, we primed and painted the ceiling twice. The ceiling was stained with nicotine as well as water stains so the entire ceiling had to be primed with oil primer. It’s messy as the primer splatters a LOT – which is why we cover everything floor to ceiling with plastic, as well as being very stinky. However the smell goes away once it dries – usually about 30 minutes or less.

After the primer is dry, we painted the ceiling twice with ultra flat ceiling paint to ensure uniform sheen and coverage.

This house is rocklath plaster, as opposed to woodlath.

And just like that, the water damage is gone.

We also primed and painted (two coats), the only actual wall in the room. The other walls are either windows or brick

Normally we will remove HVAC vents to clean and paint them, however this one would be destroyed if we attempted to remove it. Since the 1950’s no one ever bothered to remove it to paint, so its now a permanent fixture on the wall. Given its size, replacing it could be a problem.

After our work is completed, we do a full clean up. including vacuuming, dusting and putting any furniture we moved back where we found it. Our goal is to leave the area as clean, if not cleaner than how we found it. Part of hiring a Contractor shouldn’t include cleaning up after them.