DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hello,

I had quite a few Artex ceilings replastered in my home. Everything is fine except one large room. I had noticed that there was a crack in the Artex running the length of the room down the middle and hoped the new plaster would hide it but it has reappeared in the new plaster and now I have painted it white it is noticeable. (At least to me it is!)

It is a very fine crack. The room is sound - I do not suspect any structural problems.

What is the best way to hide the crack? Should I keep painting white matt paint on top to 'fill' it? Or will it keep reappearing? What 'caulking' stuff can I use?

If I wallpapered the ceiling would that 'hide' it or would it still reppear again?
Thank you.

Sounds like its a crack in the original (lath and plaster?) ceiling which will keep coming back whatever you do cosmetically. Alternatively it could be that the artex has lost adhesion with the subsurface but its likely that this would have shown up when skimming. Even if you put up ceiling paper it will come back again I'm afraid.

The simplest cosmetic solution is to fill it with decorators caulk and overpaint once its dry (~1 - 1½ hours depending on depth). Paint on its own won't fill it.

But you'll be doing it again at some future time.

Cheers

You can buy special ceiling paint which is meant to remain flexible. I don't know what its long term performance is like though.

I suspect that as roseberry hasn't suggested it that there are problems with it.

Didn't mention it because we don't actually know the size of the crack. The "flexible" stuff works OK on hairlines although I'm not a great fan TBH but theres not necessariliy anything wrong with it.

It won't work on bigger cracks.

Cheers