Replace Popcorn Ceiling --> Best Replacement?

[samadams_2006]

Hello,

I have a popcorn ceiling that is in need of replacement. Here it is

2007 and I'm wondering what is the most popular ceiling option these days? I keep hearing the terms "Skip Trowel", "Textured", and "Flat", but am not sure which of these options is the most "popular" these days. I'm planning on doing the work myself, so if possible, I would like an option that does not require a lot of experience, or expensive equipment to purchase. Are there any good Web Sites out there that can give you good "how to" information on this subject?

Thanks!

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Plain old smooth finish is never out of style, IMO. Just remove the popcorn and paint.

[Grandpa]

Agreed, except that underneath all that popcorn you'll usually find a half finished tape and mudding job. Plan on "finishing" that job before you paint. It doesn't require any special tools either.

[samadams_2006]

I'm told that a plain simple finish shows any imperfections. What tools and advice can you suggest regarding getting rid of all these imperfections? I'm thinking of a plain simple white finish, and maybe putting some crown molding around the edges. Sound good?

[billeagle55]

It takes a lot more pounds of popcorn than you'd think. I once did a

12x15 ceiling and I think I had to pop about 15lbs of corn. Then, there's the caramel used to hold the popcorn on the ceiling. I think I used about 1.5to 2 lbs of caramel per square foot. They are quite costly ceilings. I perfer to just use paint these days and leave the flat ceiling. It's much cheaper and easier to do.

Bill

[N8N]

Thin coat of plaster over the whole ceiling? this way there will be "natural imperfections" due to troweling the plaster on but it will look good.

nate

[dot]

It's just a frikkin house. Who cares about a few imperfections. People used to live in caves and there were lots more imperfections in them. Your life will not end because you can see a few trowel marks on your ceiling. And who gives a f*ck what is popular. People who need to follow fads and need others determine their lives are generally losers themselves. Do what appeals to you, or just move to a rental where your landlord is in charge of the home and you dont have to use your mind to make decisions.

[Pete C.]

Popcorn textured ceilings require very little skill to apply and have look passable which is why they are so common. The popcorn covers poorly taped drywall joints, thickness variations in the popcorn aren't very noticeable and a ceiling can be sprayed with popcorn in a few minutes. All other available ceiling finishes (excluding such things as pressed metal tiles) require significantly more skill and time to apply and have look good.

Pete C.

[Grandpa]

Advice? - You'll get what you pay for, so pay for a book:

I like crown molding. Getting a smooth finish on the ceiling is not hard, its just time consuming and depends on how much of a perfectionist you want to be.

[aspasia]

Would your home design permit a "Spanish" stuccoed look? If done well, by a professional who understands not going overboard for the Spanish look -- or by your good self if you have studied up and done some practice stucco-ing on a throw-away surface -- this works beautifully to hide potential imperfections. I have that look on the ceilings of all my plastered OR wallpapered rooms.

[Steve Barker LT]

The "knockdown" (or skip trowel) seems to be what most people want now a days. See this site for excellent help.

[Don Fearn]

I think it was samadams [e-mail] who stated:

I just dealt with that in a bathroom. What I did was to scrape off the popcorn with a wide putty knife, vacuuming the stuff up as I went. After two or three passes, I had a surface that looked mottled and pitted, but in a mostly uniform way all over the ceiling. I primed it and painted it and it looks MUCH better.

I have no idea if it would be "popular", nor do I care. *I* like the look of it; more importantly, SWMBO likes the look of it (it's HER bathroom, after all ;^) and what else matters unless we're going to be giving tours to the public?

It also required no "experience, or expensive equipment to purchase".

Enjoy . . . .

-- On the other hand, you have different fingers

[Ed Chait]

If your house is older than mid-70's, asbestos was sometimes a component of popcorn ceilings.

You might want to know for certain before you go scraping away at it.

ed

[Edwin Pawlowski]

So what? It is encapsulated and harmless. Reeder's Digest has a good article about asbestos fraud in the January issue.

[Ed Chait]

It is encapsulated and harmless until you go at it with a scraper. Then you are releasing asbestos fibers into the air and it is no longer harmless.

While I agree that the issue is often overblown and a whole industry has sprouted around "asbestos abatement" asbestos is a very real health concern and scraping away at a popcorn ceiling that contains it is not a good idea.

ed

[Edwin Pawlowski]

You dampen it first to make it easy to scrape. Nothing is flying around. My wife and I scraped about 1500 square feet of it.

[Ed Chait]

So the fact that *you* dampened it makes this something that is universally done by everyone who approaches this task?

As someone who has worked in healthcare all my life and who has seen the effects of asbestos fibers firsthand, your anecdotal experience is hardly reassuring or authoratative.

BTW, the results of exposure to asbestos fibers can take several years to manifest themselves.

ed

[krw]

Yes. That's how you take the crap off.

Another alarmist...

...blowhard.

[# Fred #]

Dampened it is how its universally done, how else do you remove it? Suite up and use respirator suitable for fibers, of course and you close off the working area too. (Not sure if you need to apply negative pressure.) Double bag the trash.

Was this from someone who was exposed to asbestos fibers regularly or was it from Joe homeowner working on his house?

How much exposure and how long will it take? Any information available for Joe homeowner removing a popcorn ceiling once or twice in his lifetime?

[Ed Chait]

I don't think that everyone who goes at it would dampen it first. My neighbor didn't when he scraped the stuff of his bedroom ceiling.

There is no data currently that correlates levels of exposure to the development of asbestosis. People who also smoke, however, are at higher risk.

Again, there isn't any data like that. It depends on many factors, so it's not a simple issue.

I don't at all have an alarmist attitude, but I thought I would mention it because I think it's best to avoid any unnecessary exposure to the stuff if possible.

Keeping it nice and damp when removing it would seem to be a very prudent thing to do in addition to making it a lot easier to remove. I'm glad you mentioned doing so.

ed