Tin ceilings reached the height of popularity in the late 18th century and in early 19th century. In Victorian age, the availability of tin ceilings was wide and it was an inexpensive way of replicating plaster ceilings molded elaborately and found in palaces as well as in finer homes. There were high ceilings in Victorian residences, here tin was most welcome as fuel conserver as it used to reflect back heat into room. This has made tin ceilings an old form of ceiling tiles friendly to the environment. If antique ceiling of tin is there in your home, you will find that environmental restoration of old tin is big project although it is a worthwhile effort. Once you tape plastic over all walls, set drop cloths down and find someone to make your ladder steady, you are then ready to start.
Some steps to restore your tin ceiling tiles in an environment-friendly manner
1. Find out the time period, when the tin ceiling tiles of yours were painted. If it was before 1978, when lead paint was banned, it is then necessary for you to take extra precautions. In United States, you may contact the National Lead Information Center. They will inform you where and how to get the analysis report of the paint to determine whether it is lead-based or not.
2. Prepare the room. Tape up plastic sheeting of double thickness stretching from top of the walls to down on floors. Tape at baseboards and cover floors. Make sure all furnishings and fixtures are covered. Tape sheets together for making seams. For the purpose of entry as well as exit, leave one small slit. You need enough sheets to easily clean the paint chips that will fall. Put on the goggles, gloves, mask and hair cover you have. You now will have to thoroughly dust your ceiling with soft, clean shop rags or feather duster.
3. Set up the ladder next, position yourself for sandblasting the painting off the tin tiles. You will require either one high-powered sander or an abrasive pad which is attached to a drill of high power, especially if layers of multiple paints are there. It is only like sanding any other kind of paint off but do not dent or damage the tin. According to some experts, for just one-two paint layers, you can use heat gun for getting off the paint. This is easier on tin and might allow some metallic finish to stay.
4. Clean both painted as well as unpainted ceiling of tin with few dishwashing soap squirts in one bucket of hot water. Smooth out all rust spots from a tin ceiling which is not painted with the help of steel wool of very fine quality. Naval Jelly is an effective rust remover which you can apply in paste form and then wipe it off. Thereafter you can buff spots with one shop cloth.
5. Strip the non-lead paint with one brush-on paint stripper which is designed to be used in case of painted metal. You must not leave on that paint stripper beyond few seconds. Divide work into little parts.
6. Buff your tin ceiling with fine type of steel wool to be sure that the whole paint is gone. Numerous ceilings of tin are adequately beautiful at this juncture to be left as they are. Dust the tin tiles once in every month and also wash these tiles two-three times a year for maintaining their beauty.
7. Give a bit of face-lift to the tin ceiling of yours in case you do not like its looks once cleaning and stripping it are over. You can do this by light spraying of a primer used for metals. Leave it to be dried overnight.
8. Spray one or two coats of paint on top of primer. Traditional paints contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which are chemical solvents and cause health problems. Buy low VOC or no VOC Eco-friendly paints for improving your home environment. Big paint manufacturers nowadays offer latex paints which contain low VOC.
Safety
Continuing your work on ladder passing the fatigue point may lead to dizziness, neck injuries and falls. The time needed for the entire job to be done depends on how big your home is. On an average, it will take about five days to complete this whole task in case of the tin ceiling of say 1000 square feet space.
Thus this total process will make your tin ceiling tiles environment-friendly. Your guests will be dazzled to see the beauty of your restored tin ceiling tiles.
