Use a paint scraper to take off anything loose, paint over the rest.

>>1015607
Thank you, that's exactly what I needed to know.

>>1015597
>My husband pulled off all the loose paint,

Judging from the pic, I'd suspect that is not just paint and your husband removed the loose texture sprayed on the ceiling.
The texture around the vent may become loose due to humidity / condensation associated with the cold air.
If the ceiling was textured before painting you'll need to apply a matching texture to the bare area before repainting.
You should also try to make the repairs with an irregular line relative to the rest of the ceiling.
A rectangle repair will be more obvious.

File: 0624162152.jpg (119 KB, 1280x960) Image search: [Google]

119 KB, 1280x960

>>1015622
He just peeled off the latex paint that was applied in big sheets. From what he could tell, there was a crack letting air under the paint near the vent. He patched this with multiple layers of plaster. This is the before shot of that.

>>1015597
Vent cleaning shouldnt fuck up your paint.
I dont know what the fuck the guy did, but the company needs to fix this shit and whatever other damage he caused.

>>1015689
I'm getting the company to cover the cost of the supplies needed to fix up the paint. They did a good job otherwise, believe it or not. The initial crack in the paint was about 3 in long, but tugging on it revealed a much larger problem.

>>1015692
What exactly did he do to cause this?

>>1015693
I think when he was fucking around cleaning the register the paint loosened a bit. There was clearly already a problem with the thing with the crack we found under the paint, which someone'd tried to patch before.

>>1015699
oh, might be water damage that cause the paint to peel.
This sounds like it might be your fault and the company might not be responsible