Re: Bathroom Ceiling

[Guest]

My husband and I own a mobile home (Patriot) around 5 years old. About two weeks the material started chiping from the ceiling -the material is a stucco like material that is put on the ceiling with a padding underneath it (at least that is what the manager told me). For example if you touch the material it just crumble off of the ceiling leaving a gap.

The manager states that there is nothing wrong with the roof - that the problems in condensation; we now use the fan when we take a shower. What kind of material can we use to fix the ceiling? My husand and I can't seem to find anybody in Des Plaines, Illinois to fix our ceiling so I don't know what to do. The manager is not much help. Thanks for any help you can give us.

[JD]

The repair is going to depend on what type of texture material it is and what is causing the damage.

If this is a home with cathedral ceilings, you may want to check if the roof was installed with ridge vents. I have seen many manufactured homes that have had chronic problems with condensation due to the lack of venting at the top of the rafters. If this is the case for you, you probably will want to address that issue before doing too much on a ceiling repair. This could be an ongoing problem. Moisture, either from a leak or passthrough from the living space can get trapped in a roof without ridge vents. Ridge vents actually work in conjunction with eave vents, but just installing the ridge vents will usually solve the trapped moisture problem depending on your normal humidity ranges.

I am not sure I know what kind of texture material you have. A close-up picture would help a lot. Generally you can fake in a texture repair with a spray can of Homax Knockdown Texture. You have to be creative to imitate the style of "stucco" like texture you have. If this finish does indeed look like stucco, it may take several attempts to get a decent match. Then you usually need to paint the entire ceiling to make the patch less noticeable. Basically with the spray, you will spray texture (go real light at first) in an irregular pattern similar to the existing texture and then do a knockdown effect with a wide putty knife or broadknife. Again, a picture would help.

Hope this helps.

JD

[Harry]

Hi JD

My ’88 Homes of Merit had the lack of ventilation problem of which you speak. After 12 years the roof sheathing, facia and soffit had rotted bad. The repairs included 4 additional can vents on the roof, perforated aluminum soffit and perforated aluminum eaves. Got ventilation and lots of chimney effect now.

Harry

[Greg]

It does sound like a ventilation problem to me. A fan may help if the problem condensation in the room, if the problem is between the roof & ceiling than some form of roof vents will be needed. Greg

[JD]

Yeah, I don't know what was up with that. It appears that they were building MHs like that across the nation. There was roof sheathing nailed to 2x6 rafters and sealed on the bottom with sheetrock. Just a bunch of enclosed water vapor factories. I see that all of the new homes are built with eave and ridge vents. I repaired a few of these homes, two for Fleetwood themselves. I don't know what the difference was in the way the people worked the factory. But some paid out of pocket, those 2 by the factory and one by an unknowing insurance company many years ago, before they all got hit hard by disaster claims. This insurance company was really good at approving claims, generous actually. I don't want to mention the name, because they would not like that and I am sure they are not like that anymore. But it was one of the biggest names in the business. I doubt that they insure MHs at all any more.

JD