Ceiling Putty: How To Properly Putty With Your Own Hands, Putty And Leveling, How To Level The Surface

2024 Author: Beatrice Philips | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-18 12:09

The ceiling plays a huge role in interior design, therefore a flat and smooth surface is required for a high-quality finish. The most popular way to prepare the ceiling is putty. This process is characterized by its own technological features and allows you to hide all the flaws, making the base ideal for subsequent construction work. In order to perform the puttying correctly to obtain an effective result, you need to choose the appropriate mixtures, it is good to have certain skills.

Process features

Leveling the ceiling with putty is in great demand among craftsmen, since it can be performed on a stone, concrete base, brickwork, drywall sheets and building boards. And in order for the surface to be well prepared for decorative finishing, you need to putty on solid, clean and solid surfaces.

Ceilings covered with glass, metal and plastic are considered unsuitable for alignment. It is not recommended to use the putty in rooms with high humidity, where the ceilings have been under the influence of water for a long time.

This type of alignment is used in three cases, and each of them is characterized by the following features:

• Before painting the ceiling . In order for the paint layer to be evenly distributed over the substrate, the coating must be of high quality. Therefore, it is necessary to apply the putty correctly, observing all the technologies. If even the slightest defects remain on the ceiling, the finish will be damaged. Professionals can easily cope with this task, but if construction work is carried out independently, then it is advisable to first learn how to do this in small and accessible areas, and then proceed to the ceiling surfaces.
• Under the wallpaper . In this case, a high-quality base is not required from the ceiling; it is enough to eliminate large flaws and hide irregularities. The same applies to the preparation of the surface, which will be decorated with a stretch ceiling.
• Before applying decorative plaster . The finishing material itself is an excellent leveler, therefore, with the help of putty, you can only remove large cracks and pits, plaster can easily cope with the rest.

The choice of putty

Putty is considered to be a difficult process and must be taken seriously. Unlike walls, the ceiling is an open space and, in order to exclude the appearance of defects on it, you need to choose the right building material for finishing. This will not only allow you to get an excellent result, but also greatly facilitate the work.

The putty mixture must meet the following requirements:

• Have a homogeneous structure. Do not start finishing if there are large particles in the composition. They must either be sieved or mixed well.
• Have an average drying speed. With rapid hardening, you may not have time to finish the work.
• Characterized by an elastic and soft structure.
• Do not have a tendency to crumbling and cracking after drying.
• Provide a long service life.

Depending on the components that make up the mixture, gypsum, acrylic and cement putty are distinguished. Plaster products fill cracks well and are suitable for finishing dry rooms, they must be applied in a thin layer. Cement mortars are used to level the ceilings in the toilet and bathroom, as they perfectly withstand high humidity.

In addition, such mixtures fill large depressions with high quality, but their surface is difficult to grind. Typically, cementitious plaster is applied as an intermediate layer, followed by a decorative finish.

As for acrylic mixes, they allow you to get a perfect and smooth ceiling . To do this, first, the surface is leveled with a starting putty, and then it is covered with water-based or latex. Such solutions are characterized by a low drying rate, so even inexperienced craftsmen can work with them.

Putty materials also differ in their purpose, so they must be selected for each stage of work separately. The ceiling can be treated with starting, finishing and universal mixture.

The starting one is used at the very beginning of leveling the surface, it helps to hide all visible irregularities up to 0.5 cm in size. To ensure good adhesion between the material and the ceiling, it is recommended to purchase a composition with coarse fractions. The textured layer in the finish is most often made with finishing mixtures that have a soft consistency and a fraction size of up to 0.3 mm, their fine-grained structure evens out minor flaws and reliably fixes the primary work. If the base has minor flaws, then you can use the usual or the so-called universal mixture.

When choosing a finishing material, you should also pay attention to the fact that it is sold in dry and pasty form. Powdered products are usually inexpensive and well stored without requiring a special temperature regime. The finished putty is characterized by high quality, but its price is also high. Such mixtures are made on a vinyl or acrylic base and have a fine fraction of up to 0.1 mm.

When purchasing putty materials, you need to take into account what kind of coating it is planned to level the ceiling. If the surface will be painted, then it is necessary to select finishing mixtures with a soft and plastic structure. In the event that wallpaper or decorative plaster will serve as a decorative finish, then universal and starting compositions based on gypsum or cement are well suited.

Tools

Any construction process cannot be provided without professional tools. Ceiling plastering is no exception. Many tools are used to level surfaces with putty, but the most important of them is a spatula. To seal the seams, cracks and dismantle the old surface, you will need three spatulas of various sizes: 450 mm (for filling), 30 mm (for finishing hard-to-reach places) and 80 mm (for applying the working mixture). It is advisable to purchase stainless steel spatulas with a comfortable molded handle.

For puttying you will need:

• Capacity. It should be voluminous and easy to use.
• Drill with attachment or construction mixer.
• Ladder.
• Rule.
• Grinding block.
• Grater.
• Screwdriver or spatula with screwdriver.
• Roller.
• Brush.

Preparation of the solution

After all the tools are selected, you can start preparing the finishing material. It is worth noting that you cannot immediately use the entire bag of putty powder, as it will dry quickly and become unsuitable for subsequent work. Therefore, you need to breed small portions of 3-4 kg, gradually mixing them with water. And when the solution runs out, it can be re-prepared. It is necessary to apply the putty quickly, as it begins to harden after 20 minutes.

The mixture preparation process is as follows:

• The package with plaster is opened and one portion of the powder is taken. It is recommended to use no more than 4 kg.
• Calculations of the exact amount of water are made. As a rule, 7 liters of water are taken for 10 kg of dry plaster. Thus, 3 kg of the mixture will require about two liters of water.
• The powder is poured into a previously prepared container, water is poured out, and everything is mixed using a mixer. It is necessary to prepare the solution until it acquires the consistency of thick sour cream. On average, this takes a few minutes.
• When the solution is ready, it is left for five minutes, then mixed again. After that, the finished putty can be used in work.

Ceiling preparation

Decorative finishing is applied only to a well-prepared surface, and since the ceilings in rooms can have different structures, they cannot be avoided. Most often, there are concrete ceilings, consisting of one or more floor slabs.

The joints between such plates must be sealed with a solution, and then they are already putty with gypsum plaster. To prevent cracks from forming on the ceiling surface after the mixture dries, it is recommended to use a paint net.

To level the ceiling, it is necessary to thoroughly clean it from dust and remnants of the previous finish . In addition, the concrete surface should be primed: this is necessary so that an adhesion layer forms on the ceiling. Latex solutions can be used as a primer, they must be applied in several layers. Then work is done with starting and finishing putty. The result is an even and beautiful base, and to ensure the surface is smooth, it must be rubbed with a sanding bar.

If the ceiling is presented in the form of drywall, chipboard or fiberboard, then first of all it is necessary to seal the seams between the sheets. This will eliminate unevenness and improve adhesion to the putty. Such ceilings are primed once, while the solution is applied not only to the entire surface, but also to the seams.

In the event that the old base of the ceiling was covered with plaster, it is cleaned with a metal spatula, then primed with an acrylic solution, and after the surface is completely dry, putty is applied.

Puttying the surface

You can plaster ceilings both with the help of craftsmen and with your own hands. Such work is performed independently, as a rule, in the case when budget repairs are planned. Although this process is considered difficult, it is quite possible to cope with it.

The putty is applied in stages and looks like this:

First, the surface is prepared. To do this, you need to clean the concrete ceiling from the old finish, if it is in paint, it should be removed. Tile joints and joints should be evenly covered, and then treated with a primer

The first stage of filling is performed, the main task of which is to eliminate irregularities. To obtain the maximum effect, the technology for applying the mixtures must be correctly performed. Work begins from the outer wall and continues towards the center of the ceiling

The appearance of sags and large differences in layers should not be allowed, therefore leveling movements must be done quickly. Otherwise, the mixture will dry out and the surface will become uneven. Usually one layer is applied, its thickness should not exceed 10 mm.

When the work with the starting putty is completed, a check is made for the absence of bulges and large differences: if the ceiling is smooth, then you can proceed to the next stage, which is called grinding. Excess building material is cleaned off over the entire surface, starting from the ceiling plinth. Sanding is carried out using sandpaper, then the surface is covered with a finishing layer, which also needs to be sanded well with an overhead mesh with a fine structure

At the final stage, the ceiling is re-checked, after which the base is covered with a primer. The acrylic solution can be applied only after the surface is completely dry

Useful Tips

Anyone can putty the ceiling, while it is best for beginners to start working with polymer mixtures, their consistency allows you to evenly level the layers of material and does not leave irregularities. In addition, polymer putty does not dry as quickly as acrylic, so you can take your time in the process of finishing the ceiling.

The ceiling is leveled only after priming, it will reliably protect the base from cracking and extend the service life of the finishing material.

You can use both ready-made and dry mixture. With the help of finishing putty, you can make decorations with patterns and add special paints that will give the ceiling a brighter white color. The first layer is applied vertically and the second horizontally. The leveling of the surface must be carried out in a closed room, avoiding the appearance of a draft.