Doing Popcorn Ceiling Repair
No matter how intimidating it looks, doing popcorn ceiling repair is not as tough as it appears. Ceiling repair, usually due to water damage is something that every homeowner has to face at one time or another. If you live in a place like Marietta, GA, the humidity can add to the mess that water damage can do to a ceiling. There is really not much to a ceiling repair kit, just basic tools that you would use to fix drywall, and a little knowledge of drywall repair. Unfortunately, this is one of the toughest ceiling types to finish looking the same as the rest of the ceiling, especially if you have textured ceiling designs. For right now we are going to stick to the basics of doing popcorn ceiling repair.
The first stage of this repair is to find and fix the reason for the damage. If it is a pipe, you will have to do a little plumbing first, or you may want to call the roofing company that you used 17 years ago to re roof the house again. Once the problem is fixed, then you should wait a couple of days and make sure that the area that is damaged has dried out completely. Next, you will want to drill a couple of holes in the damaged area to make sure that there is no water standing on top of the sheetrock. If you use an electric drill, be careful, you know the water and electricity thing. The wife will not be impressed.
When all is dry, you will want to cut the damaged area out of the ceiling, making sure you are cutting to the ceiling joist on each side and split the area of the joist with the existing ceiling to give yourself an area to nail or glue to. Now, you will want to cut a new piece of sheetrock to the size of the opening and nail or glue it into place.
Next, you will have to scrape an area around the repair so you can seal the joint with tape and joint compound. Apply a thin layer of the compound with a trowel and then put the tape on the wet compound. When that dries, put another layer of joint compound over the tape to hold it in place. You should put several thin layers of joint compound on the seams, letting it dry completely in between applications. Now comes the hard part of popcorn ceiling repair.
You can rent a hopper and sprayer from a tool rental store in order to do the repair spray on the ceiling. You will have to mix the compound for the popcorn ceiling according to the directions. Add the compound to the hopper and spray the compound on the area; you may have to adjust the nozzle and the consistency until you get the spray just right to match. You will want to cover an area that is bigger than the repair to blend it with the rest of the ceiling. Once you get the mixture and the sprayer dialed in, you will be finished with your first popcorn ceiling repair.
