Been doing some decorating for the old folks starting with the ceiling, the ceilings in their house aren't the best tbh and it's mostly down to bish bash bosh get it done quick and save a few quid housebuilders in the 80s, the upstairs floors are timber joists but instead of fully nogging it out the joiners just thrashed a few bits of floorboard between the joists which is something I guess but the proper way of doing it would be to set the noggs out so all the edges of the plasterboards for the ceiling are supported, they also only used 3/8" plasterboard sparsely nailed not screwed - all this leads to more movement and cracking.

To make matters worse the ceiling had been painted with white silk emulsion, you don't use silk on a ceiling especially one with imperfections because the sheen will reflect the light and highlight them all, another questionable thing was that the coving had been glossed 😬 To me, coving is part of the ceiling and is a plaster product although pre-formed gypsum between paper like plasterboard and stuck up where as some traditional coving and cornice were moulded plaster.

So I had to get masked and suited up and rub down/key the lot, wipe it all down with a sponge and then gave the ceiling and coving 2 coats of matt white emulsion, now looks loads better. Next up is the woodwork - skirting boards & architraves which are currently white gloss that looks okay for a year or 2 before it yellows, they are going to get rubbed down and redone in water based white satinwood.

#building #house #decorating