There is paint made for this very purpose. It is OIL-BASED and does not cause anything to fall off. I used a roller to put it on, but wish it came in the kind that is colored, and turns white when it dries so you could see where you're going. A real pain, but not as bad as removing it and once it has been painted, latex can be used thereafter.
I just finished painting the ceilings in 3 rooms of a rental property that I own.
At your local humongous home store, you can buy behr textured ceiling paint (i think they advertise popcorn finish) I bought the fancy roller that the sales guy recommended for textured paint. However when I started, I found the textured roller put too much stuff in too small an area. So I switched to the cheapo rollers that I was using for the walls.
The cheap rollers are better in my opinion, the texture effect is more subtle that the special roller, but the stuff is applied evenly and looks fine. I had patched a few small cracks, and rolled right over them with the textured paint and it looks great.
I did do one small room with the special roller, and now that it has dried, I can see that there is too much material and it is started to crack.
To sum up:
- Beher textured ceiling paint w/ popcorn
- regular roller
- all done
They have special rollers with slits in them at Home Depot or Lowes for painting popcorn ceilings. The biiggest trick I found is that you have to make one pass and let it dry. Don't go back over a spot before it drys for any reason! If you do the popcorn will come right off the ceiling. I found they came out best if I did one coat North South and then did another coat East West.
Steve B.
We painted ours. The house was built in 1983 so I am fairly sure it is not asbestos.
I sprayed the laundry room ceiling and it didn't turn out very well. I used a Wagner sprayer (inexpensive) and that may be the reason.
I bought a heavy roller especially for popcorn ceilings and my husband started out with it. It didn't do very well - it was really heavy. So he switched to one of those cheap, use once and throw away types, and it worked best of all.
Mind you, the ceiling doesn't look great - just better than before we started.
Popcorn ceiling is very easy to paint. Use an airless.
Popcorn ceiling is very easy to scrape off.
It is all a messy proposition, but not lunar trajectory computations.
Steve
I have painted two whole houses worth of popcorn ceilings. I just use the foam roller with the slits and standard latex ceiling paint. They came out great.
On the other hand, one house had popcorn in the garage and it peeled off like mad when I painted it. Same thing on the screen porch. I guess the humidity is the reason. But inside it worked perfectly in both houses.
mort
After you took the popcorn off, what paint or whatever did you replaced it and how did you prepare the surfaces. I would love to get rid of the popcorns.
Thanks
We painted almost 2000 sq. ft. of the horrendous stuff a couple years ago. It was very simple -- thick nap roller, pole extension and white latex. I hate the stuff and I'm sure we'll be removing it once we've decided whether we're staying here.
If and when you decided to removed them, what are you going to replace it with?
You don't replace it. You just leave the original smooth drywall. I took that crap out of my house doing a room at a time. Good riddance.
After you scrape off the craps, don't you leave scraping marks? My family room is high Cathedral's ceiling any advice, if I decided to do it in spring?
Thanks
Nothing. Drywall, professionally floated out, then prime and paint, like in our last house. Voila .. no more popcorn!
Good drywall work by experienced drywall finishers is a 3 coat process. The whole reason popcorn was/is so popular is that it cuts out the need for 2 sandings and one coat of finish.
Once you scrape off the existing popcorn, you will need to perform those missing steps. I personally don't care for a dead flat, no texture wall or ceiling. Use the texture of your choice.
For all who have painted the popcorn, I fear you have created a major head ache for whoever does decide to remove it.
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I use a thick nap roller and press harder than normal to get good coverage (you can see the coverage results as you go). The popcorn is quite aborbent so I use two coats of primer.
A bit more time consuming, but not difficult.
Gary
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First you spray it with water that has a few drops of detergent in it. They you lightly scrape off the gunk, and follow up with a sponge. The first room I had to do a little touchup, but then we got real good at it and had no problems with the others.
I have a high steep Cathedral ceiling..... and it might not be as easy as you have described it. I will not have the luxury of spraying a few drops of detergent and so forth. Before I start, I better prepare myself for the anticipated problems before I start. Did you finished with drywall mud and repaint the ceiling?
Thanks in advance.
You will, but you may need staging to reach the top. With a normal ceiling a stepladder is all you need.
All I did was put on a coat of latex primer, then a coat of latex ceiling paint. The first room we did was a bit more time consuming and we did make a few nicks that had to be patched. After that, spary, scrape, wipe with a wet sponge. Not a fun job, but worth it in the long run for us. Be sure to cover everything with a drop cloth. The platic ones that you just roll up and toss are very handy for this type of job.
You are taking a big chance on the stuff peeling while you're painting unless you use oil-based paint if it hasn't been painted before.
Believe me, it had been painted before. :-) If it hadn't, we would have primed it.
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