Not all bathrooms have issues with peeling paint or ceiling damage, but if your bathroom has a shower, there’s a good chance some form of moisture-related deterioration is happening.
Hot air, high humidity, and condensation combine to stress your ceiling. Over time, the constant exposure to moisture causes coating failure. Once that happens, the substrate itself begins to fail.
Plaster vs Drywall in Bathrooms
Plaster tends to resist water damage better than drywall, until it doesn’t. When plaster fails, it fails differently.
Drywall gets soft, stains, and flakes. Plaster, on the other hand, can look totally fine but still be delaminated internally. Most plaster walls and ceilings are built in 2–3 layers. When water gets into that system, the layers can separate, often invisibly, because of how rigid plaster is. Or the damage may appear as a stain, corrosion, bubbling. However this type of damage is usually caused by a different process.
How Bathroom Ceiling Damage Usually Appears
- Peeling or flaking paint
- Hairline cracks or bubbling
- In severe cases, entire sections delaminate — especially if the ceiling has been skim coated multiple times.
The Standard Repair Process
Here’s how we usually fix bathroom ceiling damage:
- Scrape or chip off all loose or failing material
- Prime the existing surface to seal it in
- Skim coat as needed
- Prime again to encapsulate the new surface
- Apply two coats of high-quality bathroom paint
That process works. But if the root cause, inadequate ventilation, isn’t rectified, the damage will eventually come back. With each round of repair becoming more invasive and expensive. If you would like to learn more about how we repair ceilings, we explain in detail the differences between plaster and drywall repairs.
Why Bathroom Fans Matter Most
The real problem is usually this:
- Your fan is too small or too weak
- Or you’re not running it long enough after each shower
Hot, moist air trapped in a small space is a guaranteed way to damage a ceiling over time. Even the best primer or paint won’t prevent failure if the moisture has nowhere to go.
What We Can (and Can’t) Do
We do not install or replace ceiling fans.
But we do repair the damage they failed to prevent.
As the author of The Painter’s Plastering Blog, Dave shares expert insights on home improvement, ceiling restoration, and industry trends. He also personally manages Carrigan Painting’s website and YouTube channel, providing homeowners with valuable resources and a firsthand look at the company’s craftsmanship.
With over 25 years of experience in residential construction, Dave specializes in ceiling repairs and high-end interior painting, often exceeding contractual obligations to ensure the highest level of craftsmanship. His ability to maintain exceptional customer satisfaction in such a demanding field is a testament to his expertise, integrity, and dedication to quality.
For 15 consecutive years, Carrigan Painting has maintained a perfect 5-star reputation—an achievement nearly unmatched in the industry.
Almost all of the work we have completed since early 2024 has been posted on this blog.
We do not believe in using AI to create content when we create amazing content every day.
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