Plaster removal decision

Sarai · 09-08-2006, 12:49 AM

Hello,

I bought a house with my husband and we just moved in last weekend. We are painting a few rooms to start off with but everything needs to be remodeled. My question today is about our plaster ceiling. I am not sure if it is plastered on the metal lath or if it was plastered onto drywall. After doing a little research on the forums it seems a little more likely that it was plastered onto lath. Our house was built in '83. The plaster is a nice pattern and still in good shape. There is only one area where is has a crack and could probably be fixed easily. Only the ceilings were plastered. My husband wants to sand off the plaster and replace it with texture and paint. So here are my questions...

1. Has anyone ever tried to sand off plaster or any other removal method that would not involve completely replacing the ceiling?

2. Would you suggest leaving the plaster in place and trying to paint it?

If we do not replace it we will have to paint because the previous home owner did not tape off anything she painted so it is all over the first inch or two of the ceiling (never mind the adjacent walls). Plus, the plaster is really dirty and there are dust bunnies hanging off the tips of the pattern. We cleaned off some of them, but the rest of them are too tall to reach right now. All help and suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

jamesdart · 09-08-2006, 03:37 PM

if it was built in the 80's id have to assume it is drywall. you can tell by knocking on it lightly with your hand. they are 2 totally diferent sounds. if it was painted ofer, you will have a terrible time trying to sand it. even if it wasnt painted it will still be very strenuous work. and very messy. you can go to a specialized paint store and buy a very thick "crack filling" primer, it will probably work wonders for you.

J187 · 09-08-2006, 04:15 PM

Hi Sarai.

Readin your post I guess I'm confused as to why your husband wants to sand off the plaster at all if you two agree the pattern is nice and there is only one small crack. It sounds like it would be a hell of a lot less work to just repair the crack and focus your energies on all the other things that need attention. Am I missing something maybe? Very possible - its friday. Anyway, even though your house was built in the 80s it really could be done any number of ways. It may not even be actual plaster, right? Are you certain that it's "plaster" rather than perhaps a drywall ceiling w/ a compound texture or something?