Saturday, December 28, 2013

Pressed Metal Ceiling Restoration Pt 2

Has Christmas already been and gone? I feel like I barely noticed, what with everything else that's been happening. 

When last I posted, we were painting the ceilings in the kitchen with rust converter. That went well, they looked gorgeous all dark and clean. 

The grey going over the top here is metal primer...


Meanwhile, in the living room, the Peel Away paper was removed, leaving behind sludgy, softened paint, which had to be removed with a high pressure hose to get all the last paint and stripper off.

It was a messy business. 


We used a wet/dry vac to quickly clean up the water, then pulled up all the plastic sheets and mopped and dried the floors off.


Then, after the ceilings had all dried off, the primer was painted down to the white end here, which is old paint but in really good condition.




Phew. 

Still with me? Next up, we started sanding the walls. What an AWFUL job that has been. It's been stinking hot, the paint is stubborn as hell, and we've had to wear full cover suits and breathing masks. 

I look irritatingly happy here. That's because I hadn't started work yet. 


It's sticky, dirty work, but rewarding as the old layers of paint come away.



In many rooms, we've discovered the best way to remove the last layer of crumbly acrylic paint is with a paint scraper.

It's painfully slow, but it's been far more effective than either of the sanders we've used, one of which is so delicate it does almost nothing here and the other of which is so aggressive it leaves big gouges in the timber.

We also tried a heat gun, but all it did was turn the paint to mush.

So, for now, it's the scraper.


This is about two hours work.



In many areas, we've just sanded out the rough patches and left the rest. We've bought a special primer designed to work over painted surfaces. But, in areas like this bedroom where the paint is literally crumbling off the wall, there's no choice but to remove it all.

If you're in the Lockyer area, own a paint scraper and are at a loose end over the next few days, please feel free to come our way.

We'd be so happy to see you.

11 comments:

  1. Wow what a difference to the ceilings! Back breaking stuff sanding all those walls but like you say, rewarding at the end of it.
    Pity we're in the Fassifern Valley, not Lockyer LOL....

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  2. Edwina, I can vividly imagine what a hideous job this has been! Those ceilings are looking amazing, almost regretting agreeing with you about painting them white as that beautiful shiny silver is glorious too. The scraping business is a dog's breakfast isn't- we have the same issue in (thankfully only one room) my son's bedroom and it is hours and hours of work just to get the surface manageable. (I am still in denial about the horsehair ceilings in 3 rooms with similar issues). The sealer primers designed to go over paint are brilliant, i have gone throughout buckets of Taubmans 3 in 1 and cannot fault it. Good luck, and keep hydrated. I am finally back painting this week and hope to get the laundry/kitchen/pantry finished. mel x

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  3. Missed you at christmas - but sort of glad I was not with you!! Though if I was helping, I might have lost the weight I have put back on since I helped with weeds! Utterly amazing pob you are doing look forward to seeing you in January and the house later in the year.

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  4. What a poop of a job, removing paint.
    The quickest way is to have the heat gun in one hand and the scraper in the other, as soon as the heat makes the paint mushy, you scrape while it is still soft, no wafting small flakes of toxic paint either.
    We just used one of the Ozito guns from Bunnings,whole outside of house needed doing, looks great now.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, we tried. For some reason, our paint just comes off much more easily without the heat gun's involvement. It peels off the walls in long strips with the scraper. With heat gu, it was like trying to remove chewing gum.

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    2. Uaagh, my elbow aches just thinking about this......take breaks or change jobs every now and then or your elbow could put you out of action for a few days, scraping is ok for a wall or two, but a big area like that, you need to pace yourself.
      I do NOT envy you this work in the heat, mine was done last winter, so was tedious enough, but in the heat ? you deserve a medal...... or better yet, a few days at the beach

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  5. I have a photo of my sister in law and my self all gowned up in full length suit, cap and long gloves installing installation in walls over an extremely hot Easter ... we were laughing in our first photo .. but not after that! I know how you feel. Don't tell me you did some in yesterday's heat?
    Melindi

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    Replies
    1. I've been hiding in front of the fan on the hot days, but Dan has been pushing through. We'll be ordering our air conditioner very soon, however!

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  6. There's a Rolls Royce of scrapers. It's bigger, has an almost bent over end. Its magic truly. We used it on a front door a few years ago.
    Good luck!

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  7. You guys are doing an amazing job on your renovations and in this summer heat too I applaud you! Tile shopping in the air conditioning was about all we have managed for our latest renovation of our laundry. What can I say we are heat wimps lol.

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