Quite often, residents of panel high-rise buildings are faced with the problem of the formation of gaps between the plates on the ceiling. This is usually due to shifting of slabs after shrinkage of the building a few years after construction, as well as in older houses. Many solve this issue with the help of suspended or stretch ceilings, but if this option is not considered due to the small height of the room, then the gaps must be eliminated. We will find out how to repair cracks in the ceiling with a simple and reliable method without resorting to specialists.
Roof revision
Residents of the upper floors in houses without an attic, before starting work, must make sure that the roofing is reliable so that the work done is not in vain. If the waterproofing layer on the roof is broken, heat can escape through the seam in the ceiling even after it is sealed, and water can seep in, so if damage is found, they must be repaired. To do this, you can contact the management company responsible for the overhaul of the building, or take care of replacing sheets of roofing material, which is most often used to cover the roof, on your own.
Preparation of the necessary materials
When sealing joints between tiles on the ceiling, emphasis should be placed on the quality of the materials used, which are selected depending on the state of the joints.
- To enhance the adhesion of materials, which is crucial when working with the ceiling, it is imperative to use a deep penetration primer for concrete substrates.
- Deep seams must be sealed with special NC cement, which fills voids with high quality due to its ability to expand after hardening. Rusts with a shallow depth can be sealed with ordinary gypsum plaster.
- The presence of wide or deep rusts can only be corrected by using dense polyurethane insulation or polyurethane foam.
- To eliminate all irregularities, you will need to purchase a latex elastic putty.
- The durability and reliability of the result will be ensured by a reinforcing serpentine tape, the width of which should exceed the width of the seam by 8–10 cm.
The main stages of work
The sealing of the seams between the plates is carried out in several stages.
- Work to eliminate cracks must begin with the expansion of the seam between the plates: a small-looking damage can hide a considerable amount of work. This can be done using an electric puncher with a special nozzle or a chisel. The cement mortar with which the seams were sealed during the construction of the house is not strong enough, so the process of completely cleaning the seam should not cause difficulties.
- The next mandatory step will be to remove all remnants of the old cement mortar and filler with a narrow metal brush or a wide brush. Seams must be cleaned very carefully.
Important! The depth of the cleaned joint should be at least 5 cm.
- After the rustication between the slabs, their inner surface must be treated with a primer in several layers. The special composition will not only improve the adhesion of materials, but also provide protection against fungus, and also fix the remaining old mortar.
- For sealing rusts, the width of which exceeds 3 cm, it will be necessary to use mounting foam, which, when expanded, is able to fill the empty space. Excess hardened foam must be cut in such a way that a tapering groove is formed between the plates, having a depth of 3–5 cm.
- If the seam between the plates is deep, but narrow enough, a sealant of a suitable width should be used. Sealant is applied to one side of the sealing bead, then the sealant is pushed into the joint with a spatula.After that, the seams on the ceiling are sealed with an expanding solution of "NC" while maintaining a small depression.
- After the cement mortar has dried or the recess in the mounting foam has been prepared, the remaining empty space is filled with gypsum plaster or latex putty.
- After a few days, necessary for the final drying of the composition, the joints are reinforced. A layer of putty is applied to the ceiling along the entire seam with a wide strip protruding beyond its edges by about 5 cm on each side. A reinforcing mesh is fixed on it and pressed into the solution with a spatula.
- After the putty has dried, the entire ceiling must be primed in two layers.
- At the end of the rustication work, the ceiling is plastered and puttied, allowing it to be leveled and prepared for finishing.
To seal deep and wide rustications, ceramic tile adhesive can be used instead of mounting foam.
Fixing a hole in the ceiling
When grouting, you may encounter a defect in the floor slab in the form of a sufficiently large hole. There is no need to be afraid of this, the sealing of the hole is carried out in the same way as working with seams.
- The hole is thoroughly cleaned of lumps of cement and dust.
- The inner surface is treated with a primer. The second layer of primer is applied after the first has dried.
- The hole space is filled with mounting foam.
- The excess of hardened foam is cut off, a cone-shaped recess 5 cm high with a base equal to the diameter of the hole is cut in the center of the hole.
- The recess is filled with cement mortar.
- After the composition has dried, a putty is applied to the area where the hole was located, on which a reinforcing mesh is fixed.
Alternative ways to mask the seams on the ceiling
In addition to using building mixtures and directly sealing cracks and seams, you can resort to installing a variety of suspended structures that, although they will not eliminate the problem, will help to safely hide it.
- The use of drywall as a finish allows you to close both the general damaged surface and its separate unsightly part due to the installation of a multi-level ceiling or a separate decorative element.
- Plastic ceilings will successfully hide the seams, but are not suitable for all rooms, most often they are used in the bathroom, in the hallway or in the kitchen.
- Stretch ceilings will ennoble the ceiling in any room, their advantage is quick installation and long service life.
- Minor cracks can be hidden under polystyrene foam tiles that are glued to the ceiling.
