What is needed to plaster a ceiling?

Hey Everyone!

In a few weeks, I will be working on replastering the entire ceiling. The reason for it is there was a leak from the neighbors in one area but I noticed that there were small cracks on the whole ceiling now I might as well scrape everything off and put a fresh plaster instead of just fixing cracks every 15 inches or so.

https://goo.gl/photos/a63tMBUwAcXHn1NFA

I am decent at plastering as I had done something like this many years ago, but my problem is that I have no idea what I need to buy and what things are called.

I used a powder that I had to mix with water, is there a premixed one that is ready these days? Is it just called "Plaster"? Online I found something called "SHEETROCK Brand Plus 3 4.5-Gallon Premixed Lightweight Drywall Joint Compound", will that work or is that not meant for the ceiling situation I am working on?

Are there any special tools I would need other than a Trowel and a hawk? Woudld I need to do some pre plastering work like priming the ceiling?

Also, Is there an easy/correct way to remove the remaining plaster that is still good on the ceiling? I was thinking of going over it with a wet cloth so that it comes off very quickly.

Thanks for all you advice.

Hi sirveu, and welcome to the site. You mention plaster, but do you know if the ceilings are actually plaster or drywall? Most likely they are drywall if the building is not very old. The difference will determine the best way to fix it.

The building is pretty old and the ceiling is plaster on wood (pretty sure).

Your photos show the old 2 or 3 coat hard plaster system and what is falling off is the smooth finish coat. What we don’t know is if the scratch coat below has also been loosened up. We also don’t know if it was done over lath wood or metal or a fiber board they used to use. All these are ways that it was done at different times before drywall took over. For sure if you want to repair it with a skim coat you have to take a putty knife of some kind and pry anything loose down. At the same time you have to push up on the scratch coat and see if it is still firmly attached. If it is loose there are screws with big washers that can be used to pull it back up tight. Before doing a finish coat again. You could use drywall compound as its more forgiving for a non plasterer as it can be sanded smooth. It takes many coats and pole sanding. You could also use real plaster made for the job and if you have the skills to get it on perfect that would be the way to go. I’m only a DIY homeowner and there are some pros on the site that will come along and offer advice as well. I will tell you the house I just remodeled that we are living in now looked just about like yours in 2 rooms and was worse in the third room and I didn’t mess around with patching any of them I put up all new drywall and finished it right over the plaster in the two rooms that were like yours and the real bad one I put up strips first over the bad plaster and leveled it all out then drywall. The finished job looks much better and I think it saved time as well.

Before you do anything make sure what happened before is never going to happen again.