Patching and Plastering - Ceiling Paint -- Surface Prep Help

I had a textured ceiling in a spare bedroom that I decided to remove. A popcorn scraper device would not cut it, so I sanded it down.

I attempted to smooth things out with some plaster patch material. However, I still have far too many imperfections for painting purposes. I loaded the ceiling with a high hide primer. However, it seems that I have reached the point which primer is no longer helping.

Is there any way to add some bulk to a primer to fill this imperfections? Some areas are too high, while others are too low. So, I am not sure if I should sand or patch. It's quite a mess at this point.

Ideally, I could create some type of patch roll on material that would fill out the uneven areas.

I want it to be close to perfect before I paint the ceiling.

Thanks.

If you have scraped off what you can, then sanding and filling imperfections with joint compound and sanding it are the next steps. Even painting will more or less just add to the overall thickness of everything. Sanding the primer down will help some. Sanding the primer will let you sand down to where it has filled the low spots. Wait 2 - 4 days before trying to sand latex prime with any vigor. It tends to roll up until it has hardened somewhat. Even then, latex primer does not get as hard as paint. It is not its purpose to do so.

I think that the next step is to sand the primer some to see what you can get out of that. Next, I would fill the imperfections with lightweight joint compound, and sand that smooth. That should take care of creating a smooth surface. Then prime and paint.

HTH

Ugh, I was afraid that may be the case.

I mistakingly used a belt sander for the job of removing the texture. Using a belt sander overhead for a 120 square foot ceiling was a nice workout, by the way.

I was able to remove all of the texture, however I had overdone it in some spots.

I will try a plaster type compound with a very broad knife. Hopefully, I will only have to sand minor imperfections related to knife overlaps.

This has turned into quite a project!

Thanks.

I agree with chfite, paint wont help much with the imperfections. filling in and smoothing out with mud will. I would skim light weight all purpose mud over the entire ceiling. 2 coats and light sand should do it. You say you have plaster ceiling so you wont have to get it totally flat since it probably not flat anyway.

Also you said you used a popcorn scraping device on your ceiling. What exactly are you talking about??

Originally posted by coops28
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Also you said you used a popcorn scraping device on your ceiling. What exactly are you talking about??

Actually, I mis-spoke. I meant to say, I should have used... I discovered this tool after I had started the project.

It is essentially a blunt scraper with a frame built around it. You can attach a trash bag to the frame so that the waste is cleanly dropped in.

I don't know if it would have worked well or not.