Oh what to do .. hairline cracks seem to be everywhere in the plaster. If you speak to 5 people each will give you a way to fix it, each claiming it is the best way. I've spent quite some time speaking with people and researching various solutions. All and all, the cracks aren't terrible, but certainly noticeable. They are confined, for the most part, to the ceiling. Our goal is to fix the sun room and living room as soon as possible, so we can put the furniture in and have a place to relax while other parts of the house are repaired. Earlier this week I had a quote from the plaster guy we used to fix the larger holes in the ceiling, hoping he could potentially fix all the cracks. The quote came in around $2,000 with no guarantee he could get to all of them and they wouldn't crack again. This only included the living room and sun room. Based on our budget, this is out of the question.
Another suggestion was to put drywall on the ceilings, covering the plaster. While it seems like a solution and would result in a perfect ceiling, we are concerned with taking away the "old feeling" of the home.
We've decided to do this work ourselves, on the lower level of the house. I am using a special plaster/filler that had decent reviews. The concern is:
1. The compound won't last over the years
2. Cracks will reappear
3. Once primed/painted, you will notice it
Even with the points mentioned above, we are moving forward with this. I'll take photos when they are filled, primed, and the ceiling is painted. This is a major goal of the upcoming weekend.