Have you noticed, when visiting your friends and acquaintances, what part of their apartment sometimes makes not the most pleasant impression? Oddly enough, but this is not a toilet room, not a hallway, and not even a balcony … Most often, the ceiling is in a terrible state.
There are many reasons for this: here are the neighbors striving to flood, and the unwillingness to get involved in the dirty and very hard work of repairing it. Yes, and contacting repair companies is often just scary: they ask for such sums for repairing the ceiling that the hair involuntarily stands on end … However, you still have to return to the ceiling, since its terrifying appearance does not contribute to creating comfort in the room. So how to level ceilings with your own hands?
Over time, the surface of the ceilings becomes unusable, cracks and irregularities appear. Have to make repairs. There are two types of alignment: the so-called "dry" and "raw" methods. "Dry" is called alignment whenusing plastic panels, ceiling tiles, drywall sheets and similar materials. By "raw" we mean work using materials and mixtures containing water (putties, primers, etc.). It is the raw method that is most often used by professional builders, as it gives optimal results. Since it is quite difficult to level ceilings with this method, it is best to study the theory properly before performing repairs.
When using the "raw" method, you should pay attention to the choice of material. If the defects are small, then a finishing putty with a fine-grained structure can be used. In case of large defects in the ceiling: wide cracks, ceiling tiles that are deformed or located at different heights, starter putty or plaster should be used first. It should be noted that in case of extensive defects and complete peeling of the old coating, it is necessary to completely remove it and apply building mixtures again. Before leveling the ceiling with plaster, it does not hurt to go through the construction bases and choose the most advantageous offers from sellers. An attempt to save time and material leads to the fact that everything has to be redone.
In addition, you should not try to "swindle" by repairing all surface defects with plaster. Before leveling the ceiling for painting (after plastering), you can find many cracks, places with peeling plaster and other unpleasant things. And all because you oncetoo lazy to properly clean the surface…
If it is necessary to apply a layer thickness of more than 2-3 centimeters, it is necessary to reinforce the surface. To do this, use a steel reinforcing mesh or sickle. Mounting sickle is laid when sealing the joints of gypsum-fiber or gypsum boards so that cracks do not form after the putty dries. Since it is rather difficult to level ceilings with a reinforcing mesh, it is better to worry about reliable assistants in advance.
After the putty has completely dried, the surface is primed. It is desirable to choose a primer with deep permeability. We do not recommend using cheap ones, since in some cases they contain so much water that the composition begins to crack heavily when dried. For work, you should take two types of spatulas: narrow (for a set of material) and wide (for smearing over a large area). That's just with specific sizes you have to decide on your own.
We hope you learned how to level ceilings yourself!
