Plastering A "spiked" Ceiling

[needawin]

Daughter has just purchased a house. The ceilings in two rooms are like something out of a Dracula film.
Hard to describe. Imagine a Mr. Whippy ice cream cone.
All over the ceiling are spikes exactly like an inverted ice cream. What possesses people to do this. They spikes are about 2 inches long.
Has anyone come across this before? Obviously the ceiling will need re plastered. Curious to know if the are easily removed and if so would a "skim" be sufficient.

[woofgang]

It can be done but its quite messy. The bloke who did ours went over the spikes with his plaster spreader thingy and scraped the ceiling fairly level. It then took about 4 thin coats of plaster to make the surface smooth. The scraped off pointy buts pinged everywhere, so clear out and cover.

[Jennykenny]

Search Back to Flat online and you'll find plenty of firms who can help. Also have a look at Checkatrade. I have found them very useful.

[The Builder]

I can't even begin to imagine what that looks like, Needy :o(

Anyway, If it's been there a while, then I guess it's solid enough to take re-plastering. Knock off all the sticky-outey bits of course. It doesn't matter if there's quite a thickness left.

It sounds as if Woofter's plasterer did it the long and laborious way. The way to go is to put on a first coat of "Carlite Bonding", (not the usual "Hardwall" plaster.)

"Bonding" will stick to the existing, and probably cover in one coat. Then it's finished with ordinary "Thistle" finish (normal pink finishing plaster.) If the "Bonding" is caught at the right time, one coat of skim would do. If not, then two coats in the usual way.

[Bazile]

Are we talking about artex on the ceiling ?

[woofgang]

Builder, this was quite a while ago, Carlite may not have existed?

[jno]

sounds very nice!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dXsG2ATfWtw/URfoR5ywkKI/AAAAAAAAF0E/c931FzvnVeY/s1600/St+Mary+Aldermary+interior.jpg

[needawin]

Ta jno. You really gave me a good laugh.

[Quoi]

if it was my house I would be happier to pull the ceiling board down and reboard it with a plaster skim afterwards.
I would do the board & a plasterer would be needed to skim.

[TonyV]

Quoi - you ever pulled a ceiling down and tried to live in house, which I assume needawin's daughter needs to do.
needawin just get a couple of local plasterers to have a look (personal recommendation if possible) & they should be able to give you best solution

[Quoi]

Yes and I know its a dusty nuisance but I have also seen the end result of some of the cover up jobs on artex too. I just wouldnt be happy with covering it over.

[woofgang]

mine is covered and you would never know it was there

[TonyV]

Quoi - fine yes yours is ultimate & best solution agreed, but without eyeballing it we will never know. Could have been someone trying to cover up a cracked lathe & plaster ceiling, just someone's ultimate design feature?!!!!

[Quoi]

just my opinion - I was just trying to imagine the 2 inch spikes & knocking then back lol.

[TonyV]

lol Quoi - I can't imagine the look of it either - perhaps needawin can post before and after pics?

[Quoi]

I vote for a snap of the ceiling as it is now too.

[needawin]

How do I attach snaps? Not got keys yet but will do whenever they come.

[woofgang]

load the pic on something like tinypic and ost the link here

[boxtops]

Load it up to photobucket then post the link on here

[theshedman]

I know some who have used normal plaster to do this job so getting rid of the spikes is nearly impossible and then you would either need to take the ceiling down or do as The Builder says. If it's Artex and it's been up for many years there is a chance that there is Asbestos in it as the early Artex did so The builders way would work for this as you would not be disturbing it. If you want to remove it, it may be best to have this checked first.

[needawin]

Just to let all know my daughter has withdrawn her offer for the house. Thanks all for your interest and comments.