Scraping the popcorn off my ceiling - any tips???

[Ovid]

Any past experiences doing this? What is the easiest way to go about it? Any tips/advice would be appreciated... TIA -O

[Liam McConn]

Start here.

groups. There's hundreds of articles about this.

-- Liam

[Jakes452]

yea you can do it....no problem.....see the links suggested. My suggestion....as it is a major mess.....is if you can afford it, have someone do it and replaster the ceiling for you too...thats a mess too.

[Crafty]

When I first moved into my house, I noticed that the ceiling texture was extremely messed up. You could see high-contrast lines where they restarted several times. I cleaned it up with regular sandpaper. However, when I tried to respackle it, I did even worse and had to hire a carpenter to redo the whole thing. It was a mess. Spackling looks easy, but it takes experience to do it right.

I did do one room, though, with a sponge instead of a spackler. It didn't look like the other rooms, but it looked good enough to keep.

[Bob]

about it?

If it was installed before 1978, test it for asbestos first. If it is asbestos, things get a lot tougher.

Bob

[Houseslave]

I don't think you'll be able to get a smooth surface if you scrape off the popcorn and you might damage the drywall. It might be easier to pull it down and put up new drywall. It's a very messy job though. The other alternative it to install a new ceiling on top of the popcorn. I've never done this so this may be a challenge too. A drop ceiling is another option but they are ugly.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Bull ****. It is messy, but my ceiling were perfect under the popcorn and they look very nice painted. Ed

[SteveB]

Your message is stated in your first three words. Apparently you have never done this, or you would know that when the popcorn gets wet, it falls off like cottage cheese. If you use a scraper that is too sharp, let the water soak in too long, or press too hard, you can damage the drywall. Probably just skin off some of the paper. It would take a gorilla or a buff genXer to gouge out anything that couldn't be simply repaired with some mud and putty knives.

Even after cleaning, sanding and fixing is a given.

Pull down the ceiling and install new rather than just scrape it? Put a NEW ceiling over the popcorn? Put a drop ceiling?

Why not just build another house? It would make about as much sense.

Steve

[Houseslave]

Like I said I've never scraped popcorn off a ceiling so maybe it's plausible to do so. I'm sure it' not a breeze though. I've seen it blown on and it's basically spackle and once it's painted it becomes sealed so I can't imagine that it come off like cottage cheese. Try a small section and let us know...

[C G]

Then why don't you stay quiet and let those who have done so share their experiences?

Ever seen what happens to it when there is a leak in the roof? It falls off, kind of like cottage cheese.

[Klaus Der Phauck]

You're a moron.

Try blowing youself and let us know.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I guess you have little imagination. Small section? We did about 2,000 square feet.

[Klaus Der Phauck]

Usenet. Gotta love it. With your attitude expect to feel a boot in your ass from time to time. I suspect it's what you want anyway..

Does your daddy know you're wearing his panties again?

[Generic Male Homosapien]

If you got popcorn stuck to your ceiling, either you or your wife needs cooking lessons !!!!!

[Frank K.]

There was a show on TV today that showed a rather easy way to do it.

1. Lay down plastic film all over the room.
2. Put painters tape on the walls about 1/4 inch from the ceiling.
3. Use water in a garden sprayer to wet the ceiling. DO NOT soak it. Just spray enough to wet the popcorn through.
4. Get a wide taping knife and file or grind the sharp corners so they can't dig in. Use the knife to remove the popcorn.
5. Retape and spackle all areas needing repair.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

After scraping, use a wet sponge to get the last of the residue. Less scraping means less nicks to repair. Ed [e-mail]

[David]

You stepped in it now Houseslave Hehehe. Everything you mentioned will be MUCH more work than repairing existing ceiling, plus rehanging a ceiling dosn't hang as nice as when you have edges supported by drywall on walls. We'll no reason to rake you over the coals any more. But for the future, it's ok to not know something and listen to those that do.

By the way, a lot of time popcorn and other texture ceilings were applied to ceilings that were never completely finished. If you like the look you can always re-apply the textured ceiling and you can rent all the supplies for about 60-100 a day plus $7-$10 a bag for the popcorn.

You can also reapply popcorn to try and even out the texture on some jobs. But as mentioned, it gets weak when wet and doesn't hold as well as when it's all blown on at the same time. Take it down and re-apply is what I'd do. Cover the floor and walls (so you don't have to wash them if some of the mess gets on them)with plastic. I'd blow the new stuff on while everything is still covered as a good bit of it doesn't adhere to the ceiling and ends up everywhere. If you use the thin plastic it's easy to hang on the walls but make sure it doesn't blow off during the job or you've got some mess. Good luck. It's very easy and if you don't want to do the job your locdal paint contractor should be able to easily handle it.

[mike korenchuk]

My experience agrees with Steve. My drywall guy sprayed water on the ceiling with a tree sprayer, waited a few minutes and scraped off the cottage cheese. He then re-taped and my ceiling is fine now.

[Lake]

My popcorn ceilings had so much paint on them the water/sprayer wouldn't penetrate and do a whole lot. I did the whole deal dry scrape. Long handled floor scraper. Great results... Scraped it, loaded up the hopper and retextured with drywall mud to match the walls and paint...