Restoring a peeling, chipping ceiling is no easy task.

If you have patches of peeling paint hanging from your ceiling, or paint chips dropping to your floors, your older home probably has calcimine paint on the ceilings. This is a water-based mixture of chalk and glue binder and modern paint applied over it  will fail. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution to this problem.

First, the removal of as much of the calcimine as possible is crucial. Unless you have a lot of experience with restoring older homes, this job is best left to professionals. They will –

Identify for sure that you’re dealing with a calcimine problem and assess the kinds of paints that might be coated over it. Sometimes there will be coats of oil paint followed by coats of latex.

If you really want to get rid of the calcimine problem, all the paint will need to be scraped off and scrubbed away. This is a time-consuming process that requires significant amounts of elbow grease and patience. It’s also very messy and wet, so be sure that floors, woodwork, furniture, & fixtures in the  area are adequately protected.

If you want only to have your calcimine problem covered up, then they can spot scrape-wash-seal of only the peeling areas. This approach may work nicely for years or it may not work at all. Don’t be surprised if the contractor refuses to provide any guarantees here.

When done correctly, your ceiling should last a very long time with no more peeling or chipping issues.