Things Ottawa Buyers May Notice #13 - Ceilings

Posted on May 19, 2008 
Filed Under Listing and Selling Your Home, Things Buyers May Notice, Valerie Zinger

CEILINGS 

As I go out with Buyers looking at houses and host Open Houses on Sundays, there are things buyers seem to repeatedly notice.  This series looks at the good and the not-so-good things that buyers have noticed.

Good and Not so Good - Ceilings.  There was an era when plasterers were hired during house construction to finish off the lath and plaster walls and to do decorative swirls and curls  and strange designs on the ceilings.  If I had to guess the timeframe, it would be around 1920 - 1970.  I could be wrong.  Do you know what I mean? You can see some these designs in older homes in Sandy Hill, the Glebe, Ottawa South, etc. Some of them are beautiful and reflect real craftsmanship.  Others - well - not so much.  This week I was out with a buyer looking at homes built in the 1950s.  In the basement of one home the ceilings had been plastered - BUT - it was as though they had paid for the plaster by the truckload and were moved to use it all.  The ceilings were low, especially where the heating pipes had been encased.  The plaster, dried and hardened after many decades, dripped from the ceiling in long upside down peaks.  It was as though we were in a cave with decades of stalactite growth.  My client was over 6′ tall so there was a clear and present danger in that basement.  The following image is so close to what that ceiling looked like that I had to share it with you.

 stalactite-sardinia-or-an-ottawa-basement.jpg

This plaster time seemed to be followed by the stippled ceiling time.  Here, the drywall guys or painter guys would be hired to tape off the drywalled ceiling and then, rather than do the fine sanding and make the joins invisible, stippling was added.  This covered any and all imperfections.  Once up, they are a real bugger to The problem now is - we seem to hate stippled ceilings.  The Americans call it popcorn ceilings (and I for one wonder what their popcorn looks like).  Removing stippled ceilings is not for the faint of heart.  You need a shower cap and cape, you need a lot of water to loosen the stippling and then you need plastic covering everything (of course your plastic is the cap and cape).  We - scrape - wet - scrape - wet - scrape OOOOPS!!!  Drywall, tape, sand, mud, sand, mud, sand.  Now you know why those stippled ceilings are still around.  It could be worth the cost to have someone come in and do the ceilings professionally. Removing stippled ceilings

Whatever your decision on your ceilings, minimize the odd and bizarre.  At least touch up the paint smears from painting the walls and, if you are a smoker, you might want to paint the ceiling (plastered, stippled or drywalled) as the yellow from the smoke is not a selling feature.

Be proud of the house you are selling.

Photo credit:  #1.  Stalactite Layers @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomscott/152131917/sizes/m/

# 2 - Popcorn Ceiling Removal - Oh The Fun! @ Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/74399486@N00/403422078/

Valerie Zinger ~ Ottawa, Canada ~ Ph. 613-723-5300 ~ Email vzinger@royallepage.ca

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