Repairing the Kitchen Ceiling (2)

I sanded down the kitchen ceiling and applied another layer of compound. This mixture was two parts plaster of paris, two parts 45, three parts water. I kept it somewhat watery because I used it to texture the area above the mantle also.

The area above the stove in the kitchen looks done. This is after two days of drying. I had been spraying it with water to keep it moist while I used a putty knife to smooth it out. I'm guessing all that water in addition to the rain is keeping it from drying too quickly. The cool thing is that you can't even see the seams anymore! I feathered out the edges about 6 inches on all sides.

Plaster Bubbles?

In keeping with tradition, I forgot to take a picture before I started. The plaster beneath the front bedroom's west window had a bubble right underneath it that was roughly one inch high by 18 inches across. It was maybe 1/32 of an inch deep. I cut it out with the utility knife and applied joint compound to refill the void. One application of joint compound filled it well.

Repairing the Kitchen

I sanded down the ceiling and applied another layer of joint compound.



The wall behind the stove got the same treatment. I think this wall is done!


This hole of death is not getting closed. It still looms there, mocking me.

Mantle Bump

Sandra was cleaning down the walls, and she kept staring at this giant lump of plaster in the middle of the wall above the mantle. She asked how I felt about it, and I agreed that this cancerous tumor should be excavated. With the grinder, I tried to even out the plaster. As I got down the the wall's level, I discovered that the plaster had in fact cracked, and instead of actually fixing it, someone just put a mound of hot mud over it!



This would not do! I chipped out the hole and filled it with joint compound mixed with plaster of paris.

Reapiring the Kitchen Wall

I sanded and applied another layer of joint compound over the drywall tape. One more layer should do it!

Repairing the Kitchen Ceiling

I finally decided to close up the holes in the kitchen ceiling. Today, we were at the house from roughly 9 AM to 9 PM. We did get a lot done, though.

The hole in the ceiling above the stove was a bit hard to get. The back of the ceiling around the hole wasn't even. I cut a piece of plywood to place behind the hole, but it was not sitting flush. I ended up going upstairs and using some extra pieces of wood to apply pressure on the plywood from the top, so I could secure it to the existing ceiling. Thank you, MacGuyver!



With the wood secured, I attached a 1/2 inch piece of green board, cut to fit.

Repairing the Kitchen

We spent about 4 hours at the house today. Sandra taped the living room floor and primered the walls and ceiling. She's been getting pretty good coverage with the primer. We need to hurry up and get the wall color so she can keep moving forward.

I worked on the kitchen and laundry room holes again.

In the laundry room, I used plywood secured behind the drywall to provide a backing for the plaster. I filled the hole with 3 parts 45 and 1 part Plaster of Paris. I've found that this mixture dries within 10 minutes, is easy to work with at the beginning, and hardens really well.

The holes behind the stove weren't that big, but because it was behind the stove, I wanted to use the water proof drywall instead of just plaster.




I drilled plywood behind these, just like the ceiling. The drywall was cut pretty much to fit exactly into the holes. I secured the drywall with two screws in the center of each piece. The plaster was a 50/50 mix of 45 and Plaster of Paris. The 45 makes it easier to work with, and the Plaster of Paris dries hard as hell. Drywall tape was placed over the whole area since it was so small. I'll have to lightly plaster over it tomorrow to hide the tape and completely seal it off.

The big hole in the ceiling above also received the same treatment. I used a skill saw to cut the plywood, and the green board was left over from the bathroom cutouts. There's less then 1/8 inch gap all the way around. I'm going to putty and tape this one tomorrow.