Walls and Ceilings - Spider cracks and texturing?

Plaster: Downstairs our 1957 Cape was done in plaster. The ceiling look less than desireable. We had painted the walls/ceiling when we moved in since the rooms were bare. But the ceilings never looked too good. They have what look like very fine cracks but the plaster and paint is not coming loose.

Sheetrock: Upstairs the house was done in the early 70s in sheetrock. Some of this sheetrock had sagged over time and can see the NAIL dimples. Yes, nails in the ceiling.... AND the master bedroom has a nice long crack along a seam.

NOW the questions:

1) Can a plaster guy come and do texturing of BOTH the plaster and the sheetrock celings with a texture that I like (to hide the old ceilings and make it look a bit more elegant? (I would re-home the sagging sheetrock with new screws prior)

2) How much would you estimate to cost per sq foot for the texturing to be applied? (I know it varies betwen region to region..... but am looking for a ballpark on how they cost and how much)

Thanks: e3 - spamman

You could get a good journeyman plasterer or sheetrock finisher to redo your ceilings & make look like new again. You're nails in the ceilings was common const. practice back in the 70's, screw guns for drywall didn't become popular until the early 80's. I'd would go over your ceiling & add screws to tighten it up to the rafters, then tap down any high nails that will be standing proud, prior to calling in your pro to redo the ceilings with mud, it'll save him time & you $$$!

Round my area in the midwest, you'd probably either get charged my hrly rate $30 an hr, or if there was enough footage, we could go that route & you'd be looking at about $0.25 per sq ft. But things vary alot & I understand rock finishers on the east coast make considerablly more than us midwest guys. Hope that helps you out. ;)

Thanks. I would consider having many rooms done in the house for consistency and most ceilings look like crap. I would home the rock and take care of the nails prior. Next question:

Can they impregnate the mud with paint so as to avoid the need for painting afterwards or would that simply be a primer so I would only need to apply 1 flat final coat?

Thanks: e3 - spamman

We mix sheetrock primer in with the texture coat, then the painters come in & do the final coat(s) generally with a spray rig, hard to get uniform coverage with a roller on a textured ceiling or wall. You definitely want to put a primer coat on fresh drywall or else be prepared to apply multiple finish coats, as the rock will soak up paint like a sponge. ;)