u/tville9698

Hello, I have a textured finish plaster ceiling that I’m attempting to skim coat in order to flatten the surface. I haven’t done anything like this before, so I’m a novice here.

My two main questions that I’m hoping someone might have experience with:

1. Would you try to sand this down further?
2. Would you apply a layer of primer prior to applying mud?

I just want to prepare as well as I can before trying to skin coat. For reference, the area is about 150 square feet and the texture is in pretty good shape.

I recently removed a small section of bricks from my floor with the intent to cover the 2 ft x 4.5 ft hole with hardwood. There is no underlying wood frame, so I think I’d need to fill the hole with concrete and sawtooth in boards with epoxy. Haven’t done anything like this so curious if anyone has any other ideas or advice.