ceiling crumbling onto car

Does anybody have experience with plaster damage to their paint? I rent a condo and my parking is 1 level below ground. On the ground floor is a large public gym. Gym management just rearranged the facility so directly above my car is now the free weight room. Every time somebody drops free weights, I hear the impact and plaster has started to fall off the ceiling. My car on any given day is covered with a) plaster dust b) chunks of dry plaster or c) plaster caked onto the paint if it's been raining. Repairs to ceiling are coming, but have not yet started. My landlord is furious at building management and looking to secure me another parking spot, even though there are no vacant parking spots for me to move my car to. I've purchased a car cover for time being and landlord will reimburse cost. I'm worried about damage that the plaster dust and wet plaster will do to my paint. Will washing the car damage it? Are my worries valid or am I overreacting? Would appreciate some suggestions on how I should handle the situation

My biggest immediate worry would be denting or chips in the finish if bigger pieces fall off. Longer term is a question of what plaster or drywall compound will do to the paint finish as these are alkaline materials. Mix with water when you park your wet car under there and paint etching is a real likelihood.

I would be concerned as well. Plaster chemical makeup includes lime and cement materials that could etch your paint, particularly if it gets wet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaster Good idea to get a car cover. Maybe contact your insurance company...get an attorney to send management a nasty gram. Document everything with photos. Any options for another parking space, even if outside?

Is there a way to 'loop' up some poly ethylene sheets to the ceiling to catch that debris first ? Anything up there to tie into ? I had to do this for several months while at a place I rented by the ocean with assigned parking. The moisture caused the loose scale to peel and drop and some of the nails bled out rust onto the paint. Caught it in time as hopefully you did as well..... and tied some poly up with rope above the car. It isn't so much the chemical reaction I would worry about ( the paint today is supposedly made so it resists chemical and environmental fallout -- huge eyeroll ), it would be the distance and weight of said plaster dropping against the body, dimpling the surface like a small hail stone would. Washing it off immediately and inspecting for damage would be my first thought and covering over with a coat of wax immediately after cleaning the surface. Maybe even running a claybar over it. Get a good sight line across where any of the chunks hit to determine any dinging to the surface.

Looks like somebody had a late night of partying and decided a coke party would be sweet on roof of Porsche.

I'd buy some 2x4s, wood screws and make a little tent over the car then drape some visqueen material over it with a bit of side drape. You can staple it to the lumber for now and have protection.

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+996 Car covers can do more harm if used on a daily basis from my experience.

Maybe something like this is in order if they can't move you: Amazon.com : Caravan Canopy V-Series 2 Canopy Kit - 10 X 10-Feet, Blue : Patio, Lawn & Garden Amazon.com : Caravan Canopy V-Series 2 Canopy Kit - 10 X 10-Feet, Blue : Patio, Lawn & Garden As long as it's not wet and not scratching or denting I think you are OK. Just dust it off periodically. I agree with the others that it getting wet is what I would really worry about as that is far more likely to do paint damage.

+1 to the above recommendation . A 10x20 Easy-Up canopy would do the trick temporarily.

A $10 tarp from Wal Mart and a staple gun would likely also be an effective 30-minute solution...and if you REALLY want to go nuts, use some furring strips to more firmly anchor said tarp.

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Except being in an apartment I'm going to guess he doesn't have a ladder laying around handy and foot prints on the roof are probably a bit worse than the plaster debris...

Where there's a will, there's a way. And a trash can...or a stack of milk crates...or the bed of your buddy's truck. This is a trivial impediment. People who sit around enumerating all the reasons they can't actually do something kind of **** me off.

If there are no dents, just clean it off and use an orbital polisher with a light cut pad and compound you should be ok.

have the apt complex pay for the detail of your car & have them hire 4 homeless people to hold each corner of a tarp over your car when it is parked.

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...or retired attorneys. I understand there is a glut of those.

OP, if that's actually plaster (i.e. sand/grout and cement) and not drywall, you want to remove it carefully before washing the car so it doesn't abrade the paint. I would use a hose with no nozzle and allow the low-velocity water to wash it away - then switch to a nozzle and rinse it again - and then I'd do a VERY light wash with something like this rather than a rag, sponge, or microfiber cloth that might catch the debris and drag it across the paint. Rotate the mitt and rinse it often to avoid damaging the paint. I use two of these to wash my car - and while I look like the worst monster in Hollywood, my paint is still in decent condition for a 17-year-old black car that sees a lot of use. I rinse the mitts before starting, then I dump soap inside each mitt. After washing a section, I rinse both of them lightly with the hose to remove any crap, scrunch them up in my fists to get them lathered up again, and keep washing.

[QUOTE=Water Hound;13294806]My biggest immediate worry would be denting or chips in the finish if bigger pieces fall off. you should secure a couple of large fresh moving blankets, the quilted type and drape them over the roof and hood some magnets might hold that in place while he cover goes on can never know when a 1 or 2 lb. chunk is gonna cut loose

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Hey I gave the pop up tent idea which would be infinitely easier to setup, should actually fit in the frunk if you get a nice compact one, and is then reusable elsewhere in life after the root issue is resolved.

touchless car wash first. A lot. Or you will scratch the paint. Had something similar on my black bmw and I thought just rinsing well with a hose was enough. Washed the car and lots of fine scratches. Had to polish to remove them.

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Fair enough. I think OP should definitely host a cookout for RL once the tent/easy-up is no longer required for ceiling debris duty.

I believe KK may still have his bubble garage cover left over from when he sold his car. You might want to contact him to see if he'll give it to you. If you're really nice, he may throw in a couple drums of JG DT-40 oil that's only been used 50miles or so.

You know, KK could have saved a lot of time and effort by just buying the bubble with a 996 painted on it.

wow, thanks for all the replies. I would love to host a BBQ under the tailgate tent! Sadly my parking spot is sandwiched between a giant concrete pillar and a Mercedes, so it leaves no room to expand the legs and properly set the thing up. I do indeed have a ladder...so I've decided the plastic tarp is actually a plausible option. The MB next to me suffers from the same plaster problem so I'll be doing us both a favor until repairs start. thought is a plastic tarp + cord anchored to the two pillars. to anchor the front of the tarp, I'll try to find some hook or pipe...otherwise improvise. Issue has been going on since Apr 26, so I feel I have no other option than guerilla repairs. There are small scratches on the roof where plaster has fallen down, though no dents. Friday is the soonest I can get out to wash the car and will see if there's an etching issue at that time. fingers crossed it's not a problem and I don't have to escalate things...not sure how easy it is to prove slight cosmetic damage to the roof of a 14 year old car...and not even sure what I'd ask for at that point.

So building repaired my ceiling and paid to have my car detailed. Wet sanded my roof and affected areas and did all they could to restore appearance of the car without respraying it. I was happy with the job until I just walked up to my car and saw the finish on all my rims worn away in patches like somebody took an abrasive cleaner to them. I didn't notice it before and know the car wasn't like that last week. Also there is condensation in my rear tail light and the brakes are mushy. What could have happened while it was in the shop!?! Unfortunately I had the car in for an oil change last Thursday and detailed this Tuesday...no idea how to tell who did what to the rims. Nobody told me owning a Porsche would be so stressful.

Seems like they used pressure washer which probably got in the taillights. For wheels, looks like they might've used either abrasive compound or Acidic based wheel cleaner and left it on too long while taking a smoke break or something. You can try using a hair dryer for the condensation. As for the wheels, I'd take it back and show them.

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Looks like they took a buffer to them and left it in one spot way too long. The first and last pics look like they could be attributed to curb rash (though it's clearly not), but that second pic with the mar being on the inside of the spoke is clearly not from the wheel rubbing anything. Are the tail lights relatively easy to pull off? If so pulling the housing off would probably help get it dry faster. I agree that it looks like they used a pressure washer though. May even be what happened to the wheels Edit: Yeah Pelican makes it look simple to removing the rear housings. Then you can sit on the couch with the blow dryer rather than have your neighbors giving you strange looks in the garage

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Dunno if that would even do that unless you are buffing it with sand. I was thinking that either Hanz or Franz used a magic eraser and some serious elbow grease or used one of these:

Zipwall system. Cheap, temporary, and easy. No ladder needed. Of course, they should reimburse your cost. https://www.zipwall.com/xcart/

That's cool Mike. But damn they are pricey!

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Ouch! This totally sucks. First things first, I would notify your insurance company to let them know what the shop did. And then meet with the shop owner that buffed the car. If they deny it, you're may have a tough battle proving it was done by them. This is why when I take my car to be serviced, I take pictures of the inside and outside. I write the odometer reading down. I also have LoJack on the car if someone tried to take it for an unauthorized joy ride, get stolen or something. Last time I took my car to a paint shop, I did a walk around with the manager/estimator and then did the same when I picked it up. I made the mistake before on my BMW. Had a group put tires on the car and when I got home, I noticed damage. Hard to prove once you drive off. I hope you resolve this problem. It's obvious someone buff the wheels with an abrasive pad. Those BBS wheels will have to be repainted. The taillight is a pretty straight forward fix. Regardless, I wish you all the best!

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Just did this and boy are the taillight housings a thing of beauty. Two flathead screws to remove them, pops right out. Girlfriend asked where I was going with hairdryer, but job was done in minutes. Everything snapped right back together. Couldn't see where the seal was cracked so wasn't able to correct the problem, just treat symptoms.

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Spoke to shop owner and they denied any wrongdoing. I do not have photos before/after but will be doing that every time from here forward. Impossible to prove fault at this point. If I don't get wheels refinished, will that do any damage to them or is this simply cosmetic? Using search function, it looks like $150-$200 per wheel...so not high on my list of things to do unless there's a good reason for it.

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If you think those were easy to get out, go pop a headlight out! Not surprised the shop denied it. The days of a stand up shop that admits their mistakes and stand up customers that don't blame them for things they didn't do are long gone It looks like one of the spots got down to the metal so you might want to touch that up with a primer or clear sealer. Even if you don't the worst I'd expect is some surface rust. So really they just look bad, but that's it.