Redecorating

Unknown said:

I don’t want to damage it as it is a pretty design

I remember intalling this sort of design in the early 80s with my father - it was the cool thing to have back then. I personally think it looks dated but I think that is often the case when you saw it first time around fashion wise.

Those irregular lines would frustrate me after a while.

My approach would be to either remove it (using a small, mobile scaffolding tower and big scraper) or plasterboard over it to get a clean finish.

If you choose to paint, then If the plaster is already starting to crumble then I would recommend using a stabalising solution to bind it before painting - if it was an Artex job originally then they make a product called Stabilex for this purpose.

Getting paint smoothly into all those grooves will be a challenge - a deep pile roller may work but is likely to get lumpy so thinning the paint (resulting in lots of splashed) may help, and doing it by brush overhead will be an arm/neck killer (been there, needed a physio appointment) so be wary of doing it yourself.

Just a few thoughts from someone that does a lot of this sort of stuff.

I hadn't thought of removal at first but it may come to that as it sounds like it will be challenging to pain and since reading about it potentially being asbestos I would need to have it done professionally as I can't be breathing that in. Sounds deadly anyway and with asthma it would be fatal for me I should think.

Thanks for sparing these thoughts, I'm intrigued that you know so much about it. Are you/were you a builder? Excuse my nosiness I am a naturally nosy person and like to know interesting stuff like this lol Does that mean all this went up in the 1980s? I think my house is older but it has been modernised over time. It was two houses originally but made in to one house in the 80s or 90s, or roughly around that time. It could do with more modernising really, cement outside is beginning to fall from the around the bricks. Hoping I will be better financially in the next couple of years to get it some much needed TLC.

Unknown said:

Are you/were you a builder?

I renovated a load of Victorian buildings on the South Coast from 2017 - typically places that were uninhabitable so I was ripping out all the "upgrades" installed over the years, saving or reinstating period features (cornicing, cast iron fireplaces, original floorboards, wooden sash windows etc) and adding loads of features to make them more habitable (central heating with reproduction chunky radiators, underfloor heating in the bathrooms, extra bathrooms etc) and replacing all the wiring & pipework along the way.

I did all this while working as an IT manager in London but have since retired early to Brazil and currently do the same thing in 1950s/1960s houses here. Much more concrete to deal with but much more robust.

In the UK I had to subcontract the wiring for building reg reasons but pretty much everything else was either done by my or with me working alongside a professional in the field so I could learn as I went.

My thoughts are that the fastest and cheapest solution for the ceiling is to board it over with plasterboard, tape the joints, use some plaster on the joints and paint over it after sanding the plaster flush (with asthma I would ask someone to do that for you).

You can hire the scaffolding towers and it would take me a few hours max per room (assuming cuts around a chimney breast) to get it to painting stage - maybe a day if you lacked experience.

I would use a wire detecter to trace the route of the ceiling light cables though so you don't screw into them - learn from my mistakes

The plasterboarding is a 2 person job even if you are strong since the plasterboard can snap sometimes with just one person holding a 2.4x1.2m sheet. You can use smaller sheets but that means more joints to fill and a bit more in costs.

Tools wise you will need a way to reach the ceiling for 2 people (a mobile scaffolding tower in the most convenient but you can use 2 step ladders at a push) a cordless screwdriver with a decent battery, a box of drywall screws (4cm long should be plenty to go through the plaster above and into the joist), a cable detecter to find the route of the wires, a pencil and straight line to mark the exiting joists (top tip, use the cable detecter to find the nail heads from the existing plasterboard / lath and etimate it from there), a bit of masking tape to mark the walls where the joist end so you can see the start and finish when a blank sheet of plasterboard is over the ceiling markings), scrim tape to cover the joints (it is self adhesive so you only need a blade to cut it) and a spatula and filler to cover the scrim tape and joints.

Have a look on YouTube on doing this - it is remarkably easy.

Once dry get someone to sand the joints with something like 240 grit sandpaper to smooth it down - don't be too harsh so the mesh of the tape remains covered.

Then you can paint a normal and have a beatiful plain expanse of ceiling to work with. I've seen some large scale mural wallpapers that build up a single scene over multiple rolls of wallpaper so you could have a real Cistine Chapple type effect should you have the budget.

Loads of options and most you could probably do yourself.

Unknown said:

the buildings in Brazil sound interesting. I didn't consider that the build structure would be different there.

Victorian buildings and indeed most contemporary buildings are a brick or stone frame with internal floors/ceilings made of wood and cloorboards with a wooden lath base covered in plaster on most walls.

In Brazil, well Sao Paulo city center where I work the buildings are mostly high rise, between 12 and 20 storeys of apartments which is essentially only do-able with reinforced concrete for all structural walls and floors.

Inner walls are built from brick and some outer walls are filled in with brick around a series of load bearing concrete pillars.

The concrete is tough as old nails and since it is structural is left alone but internal walls are often reconfigured around the pillars.

Floors of the 1950/60s were all wooden parquet floors and it is one of my specialities to repair or reinstate these. A tedious but meticulous process that suit my mind well.

I've just finished the demolition stage in one project (3 skip loads of rubble gone so far) which was a lot for me to do on my own - time to find myself an assistant I think as I'm not far from 60.

I picked up a bunch of other smaller jobs helping elderly people in the building who couldn't afford a builder so that is my charity work for the month.

A neighbour of the project even came and asked if I would buy her flat so I checked it over, gave a price and it was accepted. It is only about £50k for a 63 sq meter place (640 sq feet approx) 2 bed apartment with a passable cityscape view - 3 months and that will hopefully be finished and on the market with a complete refurb.

The weather is a challenge here - it has been in the high 20s/low 30s here for a month or two now which makes heavy work like demolition particularly demanding but I don't back down from a challenge. Once you learn to sweat freely, keep drinking water and eat sensibly then your body gets used to relf regulating.

The challenge is the discomfort but I've got good at using mindfulness and meditation to push my body past what I would normally be happy with for sustained periods.

It certainly keeps me fit but I feel my joints complaining so I should learn to start delegating more. Still, being nearly 60 with a 6 pack is something I never expected to be.

Good luck with your project if you ever decide to start.

Aww your work sounded so interesting. I love old buildings, the architecture looks so beautiful on the outside I can’t imagine how some places looked on the inside with the old fireplaces and thick carpets. I bet you have been in some really wonderful places at times. When I was at primary school the school was an old Victorian building, stone walls and really thick wooden doors. It was a lovely little school, cold in the winter though lol might be why it closed! Wiring is something I have a little experience of, my grampy taught me the basics. I’m no expert but I am capable of putting in new plug sockets if I need to

What's it like in Brazil? I would love to go but fear the heat would be too much for me. I get too hot here in Britain when it's 20 degrees the buildings in Brazil sound interesting. I didn't consider that the build structure would be different there. I will look up some older buildings in different countries, I bet it's interesting how different they are! I was very interested in the twin towers when I learned about them at school, I spent a lot of time reading up on theri construction afterwards. I've always been interested in that side of things, even though I have no idea how to do it myself. LoL.

Thank you so much for your helpful tips. They are all good options and I will look in to them all, at some point I will obviously need help but there's a lot of food for thought here and if I'm capable I will be interested in doing some bits myself. My dad used to do a lot but he's in bad health now and can't do things like he used to, so time for me to step up to the plate god help us all but by what you have said it sounds like I will be able to do a fair bit of these things myself if I pace it out, learn and remember to take my time. Only too easily do I try to do every thing at once! Got to learn to stop that. Also really appreciate your recommendations on screw sizes and tools required, etc. I'll be jotting this down.

Thank you Iain for all your help and advice regarding my house plans. I truly do appreciate all of this and suddenly every thing is looking much clearer and more possible for me to do. We shall see how it goes. Big thanks to you.

Aww your work sounded so interesting. I love old buildings, the architecture looks so beautiful on the outside I can’t imagine how some places looked on the inside with the old fireplaces and thick carpets. I bet you have been in some really wonderful places at times. When I was at primary school the school was an old Victorian building, stone walls and really thick wooden doors. It was a lovely little school, cold in the winter though lol might be why it closed! Wiring is something I have a little experience of, my grampy taught me the basics. I’m no expert but I am capable of putting in new plug sockets if I need to

What's it like in Brazil? I would love to go but fear the heat would be too much for me. I get too hot here in Britain when it's 20 degrees the buildings in Brazil sound interesting. I didn't consider that the build structure would be different there. I will look up some older buildings in different countries, I bet it's interesting how different they are! I was very interested in the twin towers when I learned about them at school, I spent a lot of time reading up on theri construction afterwards. I've always been interested in that side of things, even though I have no idea how to do it myself. LoL.

Thank you so much for your helpful tips. They are all good options and I will look in to them all, at some point I will obviously need help but there's a lot of food for thought here and if I'm capable I will be interested in doing some bits myself. My dad used to do a lot but he's in bad health now and can't do things like he used to, so time for me to step up to the plate god help us all but by what you have said it sounds like I will be able to do a fair bit of these things myself if I pace it out, learn and remember to take my time. Only too easily do I try to do every thing at once! Got to learn to stop that. Also really appreciate your recommendations on screw sizes and tools required, etc. I'll be jotting this down.

Thank you Iain for all your help and advice regarding my house plans. I truly do appreciate all of this and suddenly every thing is looking much clearer and more possible for me to do. We shall see how it goes. Big thanks to you.

Unknown said:

the buildings in Brazil sound interesting. I didn't consider that the build structure would be different there.

Victorian buildings and indeed most contemporary buildings are a brick or stone frame with internal floors/ceilings made of wood and cloorboards with a wooden lath base covered in plaster on most walls.

In Brazil, well Sao Paulo city center where I work the buildings are mostly high rise, between 12 and 20 storeys of apartments which is essentially only do-able with reinforced concrete for all structural walls and floors.

Inner walls are built from brick and some outer walls are filled in with brick around a series of load bearing concrete pillars.

The concrete is tough as old nails and since it is structural is left alone but internal walls are often reconfigured around the pillars.

Floors of the 1950/60s were all wooden parquet floors and it is one of my specialities to repair or reinstate these. A tedious but meticulous process that suit my mind well.

I've just finished the demolition stage in one project (3 skip loads of rubble gone so far) which was a lot for me to do on my own - time to find myself an assistant I think as I'm not far from 60.

I picked up a bunch of other smaller jobs helping elderly people in the building who couldn't afford a builder so that is my charity work for the month.

A neighbour of the project even came and asked if I would buy her flat so I checked it over, gave a price and it was accepted. It is only about £50k for a 63 sq meter place (640 sq feet approx) 2 bed apartment with a passable cityscape view - 3 months and that will hopefully be finished and on the market with a complete refurb.

The weather is a challenge here - it has been in the high 20s/low 30s here for a month or two now which makes heavy work like demolition particularly demanding but I don't back down from a challenge. Once you learn to sweat freely, keep drinking water and eat sensibly then your body gets used to relf regulating.

The challenge is the discomfort but I've got good at using mindfulness and meditation to push my body past what I would normally be happy with for sustained periods.

It certainly keeps me fit but I feel my joints complaining so I should learn to start delegating more. Still, being nearly 60 with a 6 pack is something I never expected to be.

Good luck with your project if you ever decide to start.