Thursday, February 25, 2010

Can you help me fix the peeling (in places) paint on my dining & living room ceilings (house bult in '52)?

The paint has peeled and dropped off several places on the ceilings in our 1952-built ranch. It is flaking in others. We had the living room ceiling fixed and repainted about 15 years ago, but it's doing it again. I didn't pay attention to what the repair involved at the time as we hired it done. In view of how difficult it is to get anyone to even give us an estimate in our area, I would like to do it myself this time. There is a full attic above, but it is very low and my husband refuses to enter it . ****Could something up above be causing the paint to peel, flake and crack at a pretty slow rate? There are no stains or mildew, just peeled and cracking paint*****. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.Can you help me fix the peeling (in places) paint on my dining %26amp; living room ceilings (house bult in '52)?
Sounds like you have alot of humidity possibly in your attic or even in that room. Attic fans are fairly inexpensive.





In our bathroom we got a paint scraper that screws on to a long handle %26amp; scraped what was peeling %26amp; cracking. Then we put a stain blocker %26amp; sealer on before painting it. You can't tell it was in such bad shape unless you know to look for it.





There's also a type of plywood you can put on that absorbs moisture. It's usually used in the bathroom but can be used anywhere there are moisture problems.





Plus it could be just a cheap paint. I used to think there wasn't any difference. But there's a huge difference. Both Home Depot %26amp; Lowes have home improvement classes as well as you can ask questions w/o it costing anything both in the store %26amp; online. That would be the best place to start.





Sometimes I just google the problem %26amp; find the answer in another chat room.





But make sure you know what to do %26amp; what you need before starting. Take it from one who knows it CAN look worse than before you fixed it. Then you have a bigger mess to correct. Find out before you attempt it on your own. They aren't called pros because it's easy. But there's definitely a sense of satisfaction doing it yourself, that makes it worth the effort.Can you help me fix the peeling (in places) paint on my dining %26amp; living room ceilings (house bult in '52)?
Paint peels because it gets ';pushed off'; of the surface. The most common pusher is water and heat combination.


The problem will be in the attic. It may be a leak from the roof. It may also be a spot where there is less insulation than in other areas of the ceiling, Or the vapor barrier has a rip in it there which allows the plaster to get colder than the rest of it. Moisture condenses on cold surfaces. It would soak thru the paint and into the plaster.


This process happens all the time, but more evenly throughout the house 24/7. And later thru the later part of the day, steams off when the air is warmer outside.


I am betting it is that simple as it takes a long time for this problem to show, whereas water leaking in thru the roof is evident after a snow melt or rain shower.

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