The front and back porches of our home have some areas of the joint paper coming loose at the edges and seams. We suspect that the previous owners contractor used 1/2" interior sheet rock and interior spackle when he refinished both ceilings.
What is the correct method for repairing this?
I plan to either plaster over it once the repairs are made, or shoot a texture on it and use an exterior oil paint on it. We are in Florida, and we don't want the humidity causing the same problem over and over again.
Thanks in advance for the help.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Grinderspark,
Old enough to know better; Still too young to care...
Posts: 162 | Location: Spring Hill, Florida | Registered: Mar 18, 2006
The correct repair would be to replace it with a more suitable porch ceiling material.
There is no such thing as exterior sheetrock or exterior spackle. Sheetrock used in a damp or humid environment such as a porch ceiling is always going to have problems with the tape staying in poace over the seams. This is often seen in garages too. As the sheetrock absorbs moisture, the tape releases.
The best fix for your porch ceiling is to remove the sheetrock and replace it with a wood or composite product - plywood, T&G planks, even a vinyl ceiling will work on your porch. No repairs or texturing on top of the sheetrock will last any longer than what you have already.
Ditto what Jaybee has said. Sheetrock is not meant for outside application period. Wood/vinyl etc. Any fix you make to the current material, will not last and you will just have additional issues down the road.
You won't know if you can do something if you don't try.
If you go vinyl, most times when we do a porch ceiling, we are able to install furring strips on the ceiling surface, perpendicular to the trusses in the ceiling, by using screws or #8 nails, then just screw the new vinyl panels in place on the fur strips. The wood will hold up the old sheetrock and vinyl covers it up and prevents the need to remove it and saves a big cleanup mess from having it all removed.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: DCaudeo,
Just from your last post I would say soffit material. If you use 4X8 sheets they will have to be attached through the center of the sheets. As most sheet goods(vinyle) are meant for verticle installation(such as carwash bays). You would have to have some material to cover your attachment areas( screw heads) . With soffit material the attachment areas are hidden by the subsequent or following sheet. It wouldn't look right IMO to use strips on the ceiling over vinyle sheets. To make it maintenance free they would have to be vinyle strips and should be stainless nails.
Vinyl beaded soffit with vinyl cove moulding (there's one made just for this job, not reguler vinyl cove) around the outside edges looks great. Look on the Georgia Pacific web site for details. If this is a shed style roof then I'd also bet no one added any venting on the roof. With no vents the roof gets super heated and moisture builds up.
joecaption
Posts: 10870 | Location: Halieford VA | Registered: Jan 31, 2004
It's a flat ceiling over a back porch near the pool, and over the front walkway to the house. The roof itself is brand new, with brand new ridge vents and soffit. We suspect that the previous owners ran out of money in refinishing the house, so the quality was skimped on when they had the 2 outside ceilings done. I've checked into the ceiling soffit after reading the advice here, and that's the way we are going to go after the present ceilings are repaired and painted. Thanks to all...
Old enough to know better; Still too young to care...
Posts: 162 | Location: Spring Hill, Florida | Registered: Mar 18, 2006
