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Help! Newbie desperate...Ceilings spackled


averyfinewoman

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Hello everyone, I'm brand new to houses, miniatures, and "E. all of the above". I purchased an assembled Duracraft vm800 victorian mansion from the sweetest lady who was legally blind, terminal with cancer, and had spent years building her house. It was assembled in the worst possible way, but it has such charm and character that I could not tear it down completely without destroying it.

I have repaired as many things (millions it seems) as possible. The main problem is that she spackled the ceilings after wiring, and now most of the fixtures have been broken,, and I can't get to the wiring to repair them.

Here is the million dollar question: Does anyone know of any way to get that stuff OFF the ceiling? or am I just going to have to go the LED way? I would do that, but I have fixated on doing a 1940's/1950's house (like my grandma's), so I'm having to build/create many things in it. I was hoping to use some of the original wiring, just because I guess. No logical reason.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks so much!

Suzi

*I will post pics of the rooms as they get closer to their destinations if anyone is interested.

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Hi Suzi, and :welcome: to the forum. So sweet of you to try to rehab the house without gutting it, but those ceilings are really a challenge! Can you tap gently with a screwdriver or putty knife to crack the Spackle and break it off in small chunks? You may destroy the wiring in the process, but maybe not. If I were doing this, I'd want to replace it anyway, just because it is old. Even real life old house renovations get new wiring. I don't think you'd be insulting her memory by upgrading.

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Thanks to all of you for responding, I appreciate the ideas and will surely attempt to utilize them, this forum will be helpful and much fun I think!

Welcome to the Greenleaf mini-family, Suzi. I believe that you will find this forum very helpful (think: University of Miniatures), fun, and ADDICTIVE - :D So glad you joined us!

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just throwing this out there... I don't know if it will help because I don't know what the ceilings look like... but is it possible to install a second ceiling over the first.... maybe sand some of the spackle down so it's smooth... and just install a second ceiling with either think balsa wood or cardstock.... ????

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I will second KathieB's suggestion for removing the spackling compound. My weapon of choice would be a metal putty knife. If you tap gently with a hammer to crack the putty you can insinuate the blade under the chunks and pry them off. It comes off a whole lot easier if the wood was sealed or primed first. If the fixtures are busted anyway you'd want to run all new wire.

And if you do dropped ceilings you can make recessed lighting.

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