How to Repair Cracked Ceiling Paint

Properly maintained ceilings help save energy and can provide an attractive atmosphere within the home. However, the ceiling's paint is subject to wear. Ceilings can become damaged by moisture if water leaks into a cavity behind the ceiling. When this occurs, the ceiling's paint can crack. Merely painting over the cracked area will ensure that the paint will crack again in the future. For this reason, it is necessary to remove the cracked paint, then patch the ceiling.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Painter's tarp
• Putty knife or paint scraper
• Spackle
• 150-grit sandpaper
• Sanding block
• Roller paintbrush

1. Place a painter's tarp on the floor underneath the portion of the ceiling to be repaired.

2. Scrape away all loose paint from the ceiling with a putty knife or a paint scraper.

3. Apply spackle to the area of the ceiling from which the paint was removed. Use a putty knife to spread the spackle over the area. The spackle will fill any chipped areas. Feather the edges of the spackle onto the surrounding area.

4. Allow the spackle patch to dry.

5. Sand the spackled area with 150-grit sandpaper attached to a sanding block to remove any imperfections on the surface of the spackle. Sand the spackle until you can run your hand against the spackle without feeling any ridges.

6. Paint the patch using a roller paintbrush to complete the repair.