Interior Painting, Louisville, KY: How to Repair Ceiling Water Damage.

Water damage can seriously damage the ceiling of a room. The damage it causes requires immediate intervention to restore the ceiling to its original state.
Only problem: most people do not immediately repaint the ceiling, which has suffered water damage.
There are many other things to do beforehand to limit the risk of mold growing in the more or less long term; here is how to go about it.

Identify the Origin of the Water Damage

Water damage may be due to the bathtub overflowing, for example, or a faulty seal. These are causes that are easy to identify.
In other situations, the source of the leak is more difficult to find. It can be a broken pipe, a capillary rise, or even water infiltration through the roof.
In these cases, the humidity stealthily soaks the ceiling, and when you realize it, the consequences of water damage can be grave.

Before dealing with the ceiling itself, you already need to fix what is leaking. When the cause of the damage is a broken pipe, it is necessary to call in a professional even if you are a fine handyman.
Locating the area of the damage and the cause of the damage as quickly as possible prevents the damage from spreading to other parts of the home.

Let the Ceiling Dry before Repainting It

There is no need to repaint a ceiling as long as it is soaked in water. Therefore, after water damage, you should be patient because depending on the infiltration degree, the drying time can be quite long.

Tips to Speed up The Drying Time of a Ceiling

There is nothing worse than a confined environment to keep the humidity level at its peak.
This is why it is essential, above all, to ventilate the room where the ceiling has suffered water damage.
It is also necessary to maintain a sufficiently warm ambient temperature to promote drying, limiting the risk of mold and deterioration.
This procedure, therefore, consists of alternating periods of ventilation and heating. It is effective but takes a long time before the ceiling is completely dry.
Avoid heating the wet ceiling directly, as this promotes the appearance of cracks.

Repaint your ceiling after water damage

Following water damage, as soon as the ceiling is finally perfectly dry – and not just on the surface – it is time to repaint it. But remember, only paint after sufficiently repairing the damage and fixing the source of the damaging moisture.

Treat the surface to be repainted.

A quick general glance is recommended to verify if the surface to be painted sound. It is possible that the ceiling has a mealy appearance or that certain areas are crumbly or show a little mold.
If this is the case, start by sanitizing the surface as follows:

• Open the window to ventilate the room well during the cleaning operation,
• Thoroughly clean the ceiling with a soft brush,
• If necessary, use a treatment product to eliminate mold.
• Completely cover the ceiling with a hardener layer, either with a roller or with a large brush, according to the supplier’s recommendations.
• A minimum drying period of 24 hours must be observed after applying a treatment product or a hardener before spreading an undercoat. Once it is applied, all that remains is to repaint the ceiling with suitable paint, the color of your choice, and the water damage will be nothing more than a bad memory.
• For this, you can buy a paint suitable for the part to be repainted, namely:

An anti-humidity paint containing glass microspheres: intended for humid rooms such as the shower room, the bathroom, and the kitchen is preferred.
This paint provides good thermal insulation and limits the risks associated with water vapor on the surfaces.

Request For Professional Help

It may be necessary to wait several months before repainting a ceiling that has suffered from water damage.
This sufficiently long time allows the substrate to dry completely, but it is also necessary to make an appointment with an expert.

If you don’t have the time, skill, or tools to repaint your water-damaged ceiling, Serious Business Painting can help.

We are currently serving Louisville, Shelby County, Oldham County, Anchorage, Prospect, and Jefferson Town, Kentucky.

Book a FREE estimate below or call us at 502-641-7969 if you need any more information.