fixing a plaster cove

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StoneHouseGuy
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fixing a plaster cove

Post by StoneHouseGuy »

In my dining room POs added a new drywall ceiling. The result of their work altered the "radius" of the smooth wall to ceiling cove that encircles the room. Now, the cove travels up the wall and begins a graceful radius, only to be lopped off by the new, lower drywall ceiling.

I hope to do something to fix this as we redo the dining room. The drywall job isn't very old, and there is nothing but paint over the mud that "smooths" the new wonky cove. I'm considering adding a large poly cove molding; applying a "system" made up of brackets and bent drywall to create a new, smooth, correct cove; ignoring it and moving along (this is the SOs idea—I am far too OCD to even consider it in reality); start over with a highly skilled team of drywall/plaster people and remove the drywall ceiling and reinstall with proper cove treatment; using a crap-ton of plaster, spackle, drywall mud to fill in the wonkiness and smooth it out (I have NO idea how I would do this, but it seems the most appealing at this point); and the previous spackle solution plus a layer of textured (Lincrusta) wall covering to make it look prettier than my skills permit.

Do any of you have any thoughts on this? I love the smoothness of the ceiling-to-wall transition a true cove offers, but am hesitant to move forward without a good solid plan of attack. Also, I am not very comfortable (scared to death) on a ladder (of anything higher than my shoes), so ceiling work really is daunting for me, and therapy is outside of my budget.

THANKS

phil
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Re: fixing a plaster cove

Post by phil »

a friend loaned me q roling platform when I did my ceilings and that was a big help.
You can read up on bending drywall. If you wet it you can bend it , sometimes they make cuts on one side so it bends in increments and then smooth it out.

My living room had curved plaster that was curved near the bay windows. I made up a form of the curves I desired and created a box for both curves and stapled on some aluminum, it is basically a trowel with the right curve. I used that along with plaster in my mud to create the curve I wanted and I made notes and showed pics . I think it's under under "Phil's living room"..

also you may overlook a plywood product often called "rubber" it isnt' rubber it is plywood that has all the plys running in the same direction. it bends even to a small radius easily, and you might use that to some extent.

they sell cove "kits" if you look at the you can build your own as easily as ordering pre made ones but the instructions may give you some ideas.

I think cove ceilings are beautiful if they match the house style. i pulled out my crown moldings and left it straight and square.

also there are some corner beads available. You can get rounded corners rather than square corners I have also seen some with a radius. If you can find corner bead with shapes you like they save a lot of work, Just mix some plaster into your mud as you need to pile it on thick in places when you bed the corner bead, and you can only put regular mud on thin or it wont' dry easily
and it will crack when it does.

thinner drywall will bend more easily than this stuff. you can take 1/4" drywall and wet it , let it absorb the wqter a while, then bend it and once bent let it dry before use.

if you want to layer drywall I usually use green glue between sheets, it is not a glue but a soundproofing that's made to go between sheets of drywall.

You can also use spray foam in different ways. It is easy to carve and shape and in some cases may be used to fill large voids that may be difficult to fill with drywall compound or plaster.

I recently posted comments on how to mix your mud with plaster to make a hybrid mix. It will dry if you pile it on thick and it is still sandable. in some cases I add glue to my mud as well, it makes it rock hard much like plaster but it cant' be sanded if you put a lot of glue in.. it makes the drywall compound into a very tough substance and I use it in places that may be bumped or where I want good adhesion.. drywall mud is in essence very weak but add glue and it becomes more like bondo than drywall filler.

its possible to get there by using drywall mud then taping it and layering tape and mud together. The problem with that is it is quite difficult to get a consistent look by hand. I think you are best to use specialized corner bead, or bend drywall. look at the "rubber" as well, it is neat stuff to work with. youl get it from a plywood retailer. Look for one that sells to cabinetmakers.
Last edited by phil on Tue Jan 23, 2018 9:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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StoneHouseGuy
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Re: fixing a plaster cove

Post by StoneHouseGuy »

THANKS !!!

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Gothichome
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Re: fixing a plaster cove

Post by Gothichome »

Stonehouse, how about installing trim on the offending corner. Nothing fancy, just a subtle profile that would blend well with the ceiling. Paint it ceiling colour or wall colour to provide demarcation between the two. Our back parlour has a molding profile were the cove meets the ceiling (although in plaster) seems to work there. I can post a pic tomorrow, to dark for a good picture to illustrate.

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Gothichome
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Re: fixing a plaster cove

Post by Gothichome »

Sorry Stonehouse didn’t get home in time to get a good pic, but if you look at the picture Willa posted with the painted ceiling. Look at the trim placed on the ceiling, that’s what I’m referring to.

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