Ceiling Drywall Replacement

A Wet Ceiling Is a Weight Problem First

Walls give you time. Ceilings do not, because gravity is working on the damage the whole time it is developing. Half inch board holds a surprising amount of water, and a sheet that has taken a leak from an upstairs bathroom or a roof valley can be carrying enough extra weight to pull the screws through the paper. When you see a shallow bulge with a dark centre, that is board that has already stopped being held up properly.

So the first thing we do on a wet ceiling is decide whether the room below it should be used at all. If there is any sag, the honest answer is to move what you care about out and stay out until it comes down.

Why It Usually Comes Down in Full Sheets

On a wall, patching a section is normal and correct. On a ceiling it often is not, for three reasons.

The first is that ceiling board spans between joists with nothing under it, so every seam you introduce is a seam that is working against gravity forever. A butt joint in the middle of a ceiling, taped by somebody in a hurry, is the classic place a ceiling crack reappears.

The second is that water on a ceiling spreads along the joist bays rather than stopping in a circle. The wet area is nearly always long and narrow, following the framing, which means a patch that covers the stain leaves saturated board on either side of it.

The third is texture. A ceiling is the most visible textured surface in a house because light rakes across it. A patch that would be invisible on a wall reads as an obvious rectangle overhead. Taking the full sheet, or the full run between two structural lines, moves the joints to places where they can be feathered out properly.

The Pre-1980 Question

If the ceiling has a popcorn texture and the house is older, stop before scraping anything. Popcorn ceilings from that era can contain asbestos in the texture itself and sometimes in the joint compound behind it. There is no way to tell by looking, and there is no honest guess to be made.

The correct step is a sample sent to a lab, which is inexpensive and quick. If it comes back clean, the work proceeds normally. If it does not, the removal belongs to a licensed abatement contractor and we pick the job back up once the ceiling is clear. We will say this on the phone rather than at the end of a quote.

What the Work Involves

The room gets covered, because ceiling demolition makes a mess that finds every horizontal surface. Board comes down in sheets, insulation above it comes out if it is wet, and the joists get checked for staining, cupping and any nail or screw that has torn through.

Then the framing dries. On a leak that came through a roof, we want the roofer’s repair confirmed before we close anything, because a ceiling boarded under an unresolved roof leak is the most expensive kind of repeat visit.

New board goes up with a lift, screwed off at the correct spacing for a ceiling, which is tighter than for a wall for the obvious reason. Then tape, coats, sand, and texture matched by sampling onto a scrap and checking it under the room’s own lighting before spraying.

On Nail Pops and Small Ceiling Cracks

Not everything on a ceiling is water. Riverside sits on a lot of slab-on-grade housing, and slab movement over dry and wet seasons produces nail pops and hairline cracks that look alarming and are not. Those get set, filled, feathered and textured, which is an afternoon rather than a replacement. We are happy to tell you that is all it is.

Call (951) 675-6933 if a ceiling is stained, sagging or dripping.