Crack in painted ceiling from plaster board

[brightncheerful]

Getting our house ready to go on the market, I've had some maintenance work done including getting my builder to 'hide' a thin but noticeable line crack in the bathroom ceiling. His suggestion, to repair the ceiling and paint over the crack with thicker paint. Now that the paint has had a week to dry, the line is less obvious but still discernible.

Any suggestions please for hiding it altogether I don't want to renew the ceiling plasterboard.

And/or, would you think that a structural surveyor would be overly concerned about the crack?

[bungeejumper]

Bathrooms are one of the emotional centres in what viewers tend to look for in a house. (Along with kitchens.) Everybody knows that the new owner will probably rip them both out and replace as soon as possible, but for the time being it's important to present both rooms in the best possible light.

That said....

You don't say why the line still shows. Is there a difference of level between the two sides of the crack? Or is it just that the filling was poorly done? If the latter, a quick wipe-over with a bit of wet plaster on a washing-up sponge might be in order. (Seriously, our excellent plasterer uses that trick when finalising. You then follow through with a water-wet sponge to get most of it off again. Then paint.)

But if the crack is due to differing levels and is throwing a shadow, the quickest way to hide it would probably be to change the lighting so that it doesn't show. Soft fuzzy lighting rather than single-point halogens. Swapping the halogens for LEDs might be enough.

BJ

[Howard]

Fine cracks in plasterboard ceilings wouldn't worry me too much as a (fussy) potential buyer. They are not likely to be structural. A buyer's surveyor will look in the loft above them, if possible, and report on any concerns. If there are any serious problems which are causing the crack, you will have to decide on whether to fix those yourself or wait for them to be discovered. If the cracks haven't been fixed by the painter, I wouldn't attempt diy repairs unless you are very competent. They may make the situation worse.

When I bought my (then fairly new) house, there were a couple of walls where the plaster was coming away. I asked the surveyor to specifically check them and he was very re-assuring, suggesting that they would easily be repaired by a competent decorator/painter. This proved to be correct and twenty years later I can't see the repairs!

regards

Howard

[staffordian]

I've used a product similar to this...

https://www.polycell.co.uk/product/poly ... -ceilings/

It was called something different when I bought it a decade or more ago but it was advertised as doing the same thing and I found it worked well. Some cracks reappeared after a few years but a recoat was quick and simple, and if you're selling, that should not be a worry

[brightncheerful]

Thank you.
I think I'll leave it. (It's a luxury ensuite shower room (bespoke with fully tiled walls.)

[Arborbridge]

I would put it on the market as it is, assuming you honestly think it's just cosmetic.

I have a minor crack running right across my bathroom tiles where the floor bowed slightly (it happened in the first two weeks and hasn't moved since). I've sold the house and no one ever commented on it including the surveyor, AFAIK.

They'll have loads of other things to think about and because you know it's there does not mean they will pick up on it.

Arb.

[neversay]

The problem of ceiling cracks has been bothering me. I don't have the time right now to re-decorate but the long but thin cracks in old plaster are annoying. When I have tried the patch-up fillers in the past they leave noticeable darker marks on the paint around the crack (and draw attention that it has been patched). Is there a filler that you can apply accurately enough - with a fine tip - to fill the crack without having to wipe down and smudge the existing paint?

[bungeejumper]

Is there a filler that you can apply accurately enough - with a fine tip - to fill the crack without having to wipe down and smudge the existing paint?

I've spent forty years battling ceiling cracks in various older properties, and I reckon the reason they keep coming back is that the plaster shifts and moves very gently - possibly just because of heat expansion or seasonal changes in humidity, but also probably because of vibration caused by normal everyday use.

We've been doing better since we started using flexible paints or gap fillers - this one looks as though it might be worth a look https://www.toolstation.com/toupret-fib ... 2?store=EM. But there's usually little option but to repaint the ceiling afterwards. Anything less is likely to make you wish you'd left the crack as it was!

BJ

[neversay]

Is there a filler that you can apply accurately enough - with a fine tip - to fill the crack without having to wipe down and smudge the existing paint?

I've spent forty years battling ceiling cracks in various older properties, and I reckon the reason they keep coming back is that the plaster shifts and moves very gently - possibly just because of heat expansion or seasonal changes in humidity, but also probably because of vibration caused by normal everyday use.

We've been doing better since we started using flexible paints or gap fillers - this one looks as though it might be worth a look https://www.toolstation.com/toupret-fib ... 2?store=EM. But there's usually little option but to repaint the ceiling afterwards. Anything less is likely to make you wish you'd left the crack as it was!

BJ

Thanks @BJ. Without painting it seems to be the case of looking at a crack or a bodged crack. The two bedrooms in question are old lath plaster that I can't presently bear the thought of replacing due to the quantity of muck that it will bring down from the attic (although next year's renovation will involve re-roofing). IIRC correctly we put some webbing on before decorating it when we first moved in 7 years ago, but now the cracks are showing again. I'm guessing re-skimming won't work either due to the movement/humidity changes.

On the bright side we'll have a brand new bedroom in an extension and the existing cracks will the kids bedrooms - so I won't have to wake up look at the cracks every morning!


N.

[bungeejumper]

The two bedrooms in question are old lath plaster that I can't presently bear the thought of replacing due to the quantity of muck that it will bring down from the attic (although next year's renovation will involve re-roofing).

I'm with you there. We had to have four Victorian lath and plaster ceilings taken out when we first bought Bungee Towers - they had all "dropped" in places, and they were all looking dangerous! And the mess was prodigious. Even though our plasterer hooked up a chute to the upstairs windows and shot most of the rubble straight out into a waiting skip. Must have been well over a tonne of it.

Nor did the new plasterboard ceilings entirely solve the problem, because the internal walls were still plastered in the old horsehair-and-lime style. The gypsum plaster expands at a different rate from the old stuff, so we've had differential cracking around the tops of the walls where the two plasters meet. You can't win.

BJ

[neversay]

The two bedrooms in question are old lath plaster that I can't presently bear the thought of replacing due to the quantity of muck that it will bring down from the attic (although next year's renovation will involve re-roofing).

I'm with you there. We had to have four Victorian lath and plaster ceilings taken out when we first bought Bungee Towers - they had all "dropped" in places, and they were all looking dangerous! And the mess was prodigious. Even though our plasterer hooked up a chute to the upstairs windows and shot most of the rubble straight out into a waiting skip. Must have been well over a tonne of it.

Nor did the new plasterboard ceilings entirely solve the problem, because the internal walls were still plastered in the old horsehair-and-lime style. The gypsum plaster expands at a different rate from the old stuff, so we've had differential cracking around the tops of the walls where the two plasters meet. You can't win.

BJ

After that experience, I will follow in the footsteps of OP @brightandcheerful who said "I think I'll leave it"!!

Thanks again and have a good weekend!

[DrFfybes]

The problem of ceiling cracks has been bothering me. I don't have the time right now to re-decorate but the long but thin cracks in old plaster are annoying. When I have tried the patch-up fillers in the past they leave noticeable darker marks on the paint around the crack (and draw attention that it has been patched). Is there a filler that you can apply accurately enough - with a fine tip - to fill the crack without having to wipe down and smudge the existing paint?

There are some very lightweight pre-mixed fillers that can hide a very thin crack in light paint if the lighting is shaded - B&Q do one under the "Diall" brand in a purple tub. You can tell the one as it weighs a lot less than that other tubs. However if there is any stepping in the crack edges then you need to sand first.

In summery it is almost always "No". You need to fill, rub back (if required) and paint over the filler.

Paul (filling lots of cracks ready to market a house).

[88V8]

Paper.

Our previous house, most of the rooms had cracked lath & plaster ceilings, the main bedroom particularly so. Much of it was WWII bomb damage, exacerbated upstairs by a rather flimsy collar roof.

I filled the cracks, Polyfilla iirc, then pasted scrim along each crack. Then papered the ceiling with reinforced lining paper, then papered it again with an Anaglypta - overlapping the lining paper joins - which of course I painted. In the lightly cracked rooms I omitted the lining paper.

In the bathroom, I painted the Anaglypta on ceiling and freize with a satin oil paint for steam resistance, and had no problems.

When we sold 20+ years later, there were still no cracks.

Painted-on-plaster ceilings are a crack waiting to happen.

V8

[quelquod]

I’ve always found that ceiling cracks in plaster over plasterboard are along the plasterboard joints and always show and return. Usually the plasterboard joint taping will have come slack or cracked through. Over the years I’ve fixed umpteen and I always cut out completely back to plasterboard a couple of inches or so either side of the crack, retape and replaster. A bit of mess but pretty permanent. The only thing really to watch out for is if the plasterboard is getting tired on its screws in which case it’s likely to need boarding over or, if you can take the mess, pulling down.

Neither much use if you’re selling up I guess in which I’d usually rake it out a bit, fill proud and sand down flush.

[sg31]

I’ve always found that ceiling cracks in plaster over plasterboard are along the plasterboard joints and always show and return.b Over the years I’ve fixed umpteen and I always cut out completely back to plasterboard a couple of inches or so either side of the crack, retape and replaster. A bit of mess but pretty permanent. The only thing really to watch out for is if the plasterboard is getting tired on its screws in which case it’s likely to need boarding over or, if you can take the mess, pulling down.

Neither much use if you’re selling up I guess in which I’d usually rake it out a bit, fill proud and sand down flush.

The older 'cotton' type scrim was prone to this. the modern self adhesive fibre glass scrim is much better. It's never let me down so far and I've been using it for 30 years or more.

[pompeygazza]

get some white builders caulk or mastic and sponge it along the crack, then as it's drying wipe off the excess. repaint.