My parent's house was built in '65. It has a carport. I looked at its
interior ceiling yesterday to find that it was peeling about the size of a
golfball over each nail. Upon closer looking at it, it appears the ceiling
is either drywall or some kind of wall board. It is definitely not wood.
My dad said the spackle came off each nail because it was not done 2-3 times
with time for it set between new applications. My first idea was to scrape
the whole ceiling, but he said you would only have to scrape around what has
come off around the nails and build that area back up so it is flush with
the rest of the ceiling. However, the whole ceiling has cracks and some
losse pieces of paint throughout..not just over the nails. I am assuming
that the area not over the nails is several layers of paint, but I am not
sure at this point. I want to help him out as he is older and really needs
it fixed. I've done drywall and painting before, so I do know a little, but
I've never seen drywall outside where it is subject to dampness, water, etc.
Any help would be appreciated.

Wade