Plaster is a construction material, which can be used in many applications inside your home and when it is used on a ceiling can change completely the look of your house.
Plaster can be used either as a finish coat or to re-finish the room ceiling. But before starting your job you should know that a properly plaster of the ceiling requires the right materials and tools.
Let’s see together the main steps that you need to make for a properly job.
Room Preparation
First you should remove all the small pieces of furniture, decorations, accessories and other stuff from your room. Cover the remaining furniture with plastic sheets. Cover also your floor with a drop cloth or plastic sheets. Don’t forget, this job could be a pretty messy job.
If the ceiling of the room is textured, for example a popcorn ceiling, first you need to remove the ceiling texture. Your ceiling must be smooth if you want to apply plaster.
Ceiling Texture Removal
Place your ladder on one room wall. Wearing a face mask and protection glasses climb up the ladder. Using a scraper remove the ceiling texture by running gentle the scraper along the room ceiling. The old texture will fell on the room floor.
Continue to scrape off the old ceiling texture until your entire ceiling is smooth and then use a soft damp piece of cloth to remove any texture residue.
Taping the Top Edge of the Walls
Tape the top edge of the walls with painter tape where they meet the ceiling. This will protect them from the plaster excess to run down along the walls. Perhaps you need more than one stripe of tape for a better protection.
Plaster Preparation
Read carefully the manufacturer instructions. You can find them on the plaster package. You can use a bucket where you can mix the plaster with water. Using a power drill with a paddle attachment, mix thoroughly the mixture. However, if you prefer, you can stir your composition by hand, but make sure that your plaster is completely blended. Use hawk to transport your composition up and down on the ladder. A hawk is a tool like a square metal piece with a bottom handle.
Plaster Application
Using a drywall trowel start to apply the plaster keeping the trowel edge at a 45 degree angle. Then press gently your trowel and run along the room ceiling.
Plaster on small areas, no larger than 3-foot square each. Your plaster coat should be uniform and not thicker than ¼-inch. Continue to apply in this way until you finish the entire surface of the ceiling.
Allow time to dry (several hours) and remove the painter tape. Now you have a room in your home with a smooth ceiling. After all, plastering is not such a difficult job, and if you want you can change easily the look of any room from your house.
