Asked on Dec 19, 2017
I have a mid-century modern home which needs ceiling repair!
by
Jace Mattson
+5
As I said, I have a mid-century modern home which needs ceiling repair. I'm a 1950's kind of gal so the style of the repair has to go with the house. It is currently covered in a very "off-size" acoustic ceiling tile, which in turn holds up the insulation. I really don't want to pull all the tiles down as there are only about a dozen in bad shape. I don't have the strength to do drywall, especially on a ceiling this big. The room is 28'x18' so the fix needs to be pretty thrifty as I am disabled and on a pretty tight budget. Any ideas would be welcome. There are no stupid ideas!! The problem is that when I try to screw them back into their support structure, they crumble. I had a tenant who tried spackle. You can see how well that worked!
I used styrofoam ceiling(antique) tiles to cover up a bumpy ceiling where the drywall had to be pulled down.
white silicone caulking used for windows is your best bet for a short-term fix, it's even a fairly effective 'glue' to hold crumbling tiles together.
but understand that this is a stop-gap measure, the ceiling will 'have' to be drywalled at some point - maybe see if Habitat for Humanity is active in your area, their 'brush with kindness' program might be able to help.
Looks like you've had leaks or very high humidity. My best guess would be to to replace individual tiles.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrBc_e6a7Jk then repaint ceiling to match. I would lightly sand off any spackle showing.
And if that wasn't caused by a roof leak, I think you need a dehumidifier.
ship lap
If this is a 50's ceiling, you may have asbestos in these tiles. Please check that out before you continue. Once you disturb asbestos, it become airborne and very dangerous. When I replaced the furnace in my 52 bungalow, I had to re-mediate the house.
many Ideas are sort term. I bought a house built in 1815 and additions 1826, 1913, 1950. All of the “work” was done with the best qualitY. This house is the best house ever,,,Short time do it with someome might like it, or do do it well
Did you end up finding tiles to replace these with? I have to replace just a few tiles similar to these, and I am not finding them anywhere.