How to clean the whitewash from the ceiling

To date, this type of finish is not popular, as replaced by more practical materials. Due to its high manufacturability and convenience, the ceiling is finished in a short time and at the same time, the service life is several times longer than the life of a simple whitewash. If you inherited an old house with whitewashed ceilings, then before proceeding with the repair, you should learn how to clean the whitewash from the ceiling and prepare the surface. This article will discuss the main recommendations that will reduce the amount of work performed to a minimum.

Why remove whitewash

In modern repair and finishing work, great attention is paid to the preparation of surfaces before the final finishing. If your house has a whitewashed limestone or chalk mortar ceiling, then this layer should be removed. Otherwise, new finishing materials will not be able to properly fix, the adhesion strength will be minimized and in the near future the finish will crack or fall off altogether.

In addition, quite often in such rooms as a kitchen and a bathroom, spots of various origins can appear on the ceiling. Their appearance is affected by:

• fat;
• high humidity;
• sudden changes in temperature;
• leaks from the neighbors above (in a high-rise building).

Another common problem of many ceilings in rooms with high humidity is mold. It is more difficult to remove such stains, but if this is not done, they will soon appear on a new finish and spoil the look.

If plans to finish the ceiling include re-conducting the process, then experts recommend cleaning the old layer to ensure that the new layer is of high quality.

Training

It should immediately be said that the process of cleaning the ceiling from the old whitewash is not too time consuming and with proper preparation will take not so much time and effort. True, to achieve this, you should consider a few subtleties. Removing whitewash is a dirty and dusty job, so it is best to remove all furniture and things from the room. You can tighten everything with plastic wrap, but textiles are still worth taking out, since dust is very quickly absorbed into it.

For convenience, you should also prepare:

• table or stepladder;
• rubber gloves;
• work clothes;
• respirator;
• protective glasses;
• putty knife;
• roller;
• spray;
• warm and hot water.

To protect the floor from debris, it should also be covered with several layers of film. And before leaving the room you should put a wet rag so that the whitewash does not spread throughout the house.

When covering furniture with tape, use scotch tape to seal joints and corners thoroughly.

Cleaning technology

The basis of whitewash includes hydrated lime or chalk. Sometimes the inclusion of an aqueous solution of glue is allowed so that the material does not crumble. The main way to remove the old layer is simple washing with water. Both the roller and the sprayer are suitable for this. In addition to this method, there are others that should be considered in more detail.

Wet way

This is a fairly simple way to remove old whitewash. In addition, it should be noted that with this technology, the amount of dust will be much less. Before you get started, consider some of the nuances:

• water for work must be warm;
• for application suitable foam sponge, spray, brush or roller with a fibrous nozzle;
• 10 liters of water will require 3 tbsp. washing powder (or soap) and 5 tbsp. baking soda.

For wetting with hard-to-reach places you can use brushes of different widths.

Prepare the solution thoroughly moisten the layer of old whitewash. Since water is absorbed very quickly, you should repeat the procedure several times. This will allow the ceiling finish to completely sodden. Then you can proceed to direct removal:

1. In order not to gloss over the floor, use a basin in which the removable layer will fall.
2. It is recommended to clean the ceiling from whitewashing with a spatula of a small width.

This option is quite time-consuming and takes a lot of time, especially when it comes to a room with a large area. After the entire ceiling is completely cleaned, you should walk on it with sandpaper. Evaluate the result: there may be defects that are removed with special mixtures, for example, gypsum plaster. At the end of the ceiling ground.

Do not wet the entire surface at once; it is best to carry out the process in stages in small sections. In this case, the water will not have time to dry, and remove the whitewash with a spatula will be easy.

Dry way

There is another option where you do not need to use water, that is, the process of cleaning the ceiling from whitewashing is carried out "on dry". In this case, the tools will need only a spatula, which is directly cleaned layer. Among the minuses are:

• labor intensity;
• the presence of large amounts of dust and dirt;
• take a long time.

As you can see, there are too many flaws, it is better to abandon this method. If you want to perform the procedure quickly, you should use a grinding machine. In the absence of such, you can rent it, which will cost much less than the purchase.

This method is suitable only for empty rooms without furniture. At the same time, the door, windows and floor are carefully covered with cling film and tape. Due to the formation of a large amount of dust, you need to think about your defense:

• respirator;
• headgear and work clothes;
• protective glasses.

On the grinding machine fix the largest abrasive paper. After carrying out the work, the room is thoroughly washed away from debris.

Paste

In order to remove less debris when removing the whitewash from the ceiling, you can use specially prepared paste. The recipe is quite simple:

• 1 l of water;
• 2 tbsp. flour (can be replaced by starch).

The flour is diluted in a small amount of water, then poured into boiling water, carefully stirred. The finished paste is applied to the ceiling in a small amount and allowed to dry. After that, the whitewash is easily peeled off with a metal spatula. The advantage of this method is the formation of a minimum of pollution.

If there is no particular desire and time to prepare the paste, you can buy special washes for whitewashing on a glue base. Apply them with a brush or sprayer.

Stain removal

When cleaning the whitewash from the ceiling, you may encounter problems in the form of various stains. Depending on their origin, a cleansing method should be selected.

1. Fat The most common are fatty stains, which in most cases can be removed with detergent, powder or gasoline. If they did not help, then you can buy an alkaline solution or prepare it yourself: for 1 l of hot water you will need 3 tbsp. soda
2. Mold and fungus. It is recommended to use a stronger antiseptic - bleach or copper sulfate. Also suitable special tools from the store of household chemicals.
3. Soot. Remove the stain can be using a simple 3% hydrochloric acid solution. The percentage should not exceed the specified rate.
4. Rust. It is not easy to cope with rust, as the process involves several stages: water purification and treatment with copper sulphate. For large stains, vitriol primer is suitable, which can be prepared at home: 10 liters of water, 150 grams of copper sulphate, 250 soap, 250 g of animal dry glue, 30 g of natural drying oil and 2–3 kg of chalk.

When working with alkaline and acid solutions, it is necessary to adhere to safety measures: use rubber gloves and a respirator to prevent harmful vapors from reaching the skin and respiratory organs.

General recommendations

The main condition for cleaning the ceiling of whitewash is the proper organization of labor. In order to properly distribute your time and ensure the continuity of the workflow, you should do this: when you remove chalk in one part of the ceiling, the next square must be soaked with water or paste.

At each stage, the quality of the work done should be monitored so as not to return to a poorly treated area. Swipe your hand over the cleaned surface: if chalk remains on your hand, then the work is done poorly. To improve the result, you can use a primer, which is intended for the whitened surface.

If there is a plaster layer under the whitewashing, it is necessary to check its strength - to tap. At low strength, the plaster is removed.

No matter what method of cleaning the ceiling of whitewash was chosen, furniture, decor and other elements, including textiles, are completely removed from the room. In spite of the fact that it is quite simple to clean all objects from dust, it will take a lot of time. The article describes the most common methods, so you just have to choose the appropriate option. After completing the work, you can proceed to the installation of a new ceiling decoration.