Tutorials 103: How to Repair Water Damaged Ceiling

During a rain storm, water can pour down on a ceiling from broken water pipes or a hole in the roof. The plaster which is covering up the ceiling makes resistance to stop the water from pouring down into your house. An ugly stain will result to complete collapse of the ceiling. Water trails the path of least resistance. Drywall is usually the place where two panels of it meet, while plaster is the place where the water pools up. Huge chunks of ceiling falls down in case of water damages. It also allowed to mix in your ceiling and the walls will grow mold which would be very hard to get rid of once it starts to grow.

This is the first thing you need to do is to find out where the water is coming from and resist any more from getting in, you have fix your roof by replacing it with a pipe. So, once you resisted the water from coming in, mop up as quickly as possible. Use towels, vacuums, and fans to dry up. Do it above and below the ceiling. The ceiling is saturated if the water is dripping through. Stab it with a knife or a screw driver if the ceiling plaster or drywall is bulging. Place a bucket under the bulge before poking it. The mold grows well in moist and dark places, if you eliminate the water in the ceiling right away you may be able to stop the mold from sprouting. Mold begins to grow if you allow the ceiling to be damp for days. And if the mold gets into the interior passages of home, it might be hard and costly to let it out.

Scrape away pieces of plaster or drywall that are loose, bulging, or peeling away, if it is moist to the touch just tear it away. Scrape it with a knife or paint scraper until it is flat that is if it is flaking or chipping otherwise it is discolored. Use sandpaper to take out the ridge separating the damaged and undamaged areas of the ceiling smoothly. Major holes will need new sheets of drywall or plaster. You will repair small holes by filling them with joint compound. Smooth them level with a putty knife and dry it as well. Make sure you remove any bumps. Do this until the surface is smooth and fingers cannot detect where the patch starts and ends. If ceiling is discolored then just skip this step and move on the next one.

Next, buy a can of primer called “Kilz”. It covers stain so it cannot be seen afterwards. If you paint on water damage, it can still show through the paint or it might appear later on. Kilz looks like ordinary white paint but does a lot of things. Apply with a coat to the stained area and dry it later on. Apply more coats of it if it is needed; just make sure to ventilate the room to prevent the build up of toxic fumes. Before you start any large scale painting spread out tarps on the ground under the part of the ceiling where you have painted. Once the layers of Kilz are dry, paint it with a color that matches the rest of the ceiling. If the ceiling paint is old and hard to find, then paint the entire of it in that room. Then, cover the furniture and the walls with plastic sheets and a masking tape. It has a texture; spray canned ceiling texture on damaged area. Add another coat if it requires it so that your water damaged ceiling has already been repaired.

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