"Bill" wrote
Thank you Ed, and everyone else to who provided me with advise in this thead! It is valuable to me now, and it will be in the future too!
By the way, if the stipple has a thin coat of paint on it does this change the way you have to go about dampening it? That is, is a spray bottle likely to go it? I presume with a bit of patience...
As far as my light fixtures, I plan to make an open ended box-shaped template of the appropriate size. I can draw pencil lines, spray through the box, clean up the openings, and paint 'em up. I'm sure it will be great fun (lol)! ;) Actually, working in such a systematic fashion will probably help me complete the job quicker.
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I am not sure why you are making this complicated, like you are-and have done on other projects.
Step one- use a 3/4" roller, and paint the whole ceiling with white stain blocker paint. I suggest this step, because after I sprayed popcorn on my older house ceiling, brown stains bled through any place there was not joint compound under the paint. You will do the whole ceiling just as fast as painting only under the location of the lights as you are suggesting. The fresh white will reflect more light and be a fresh new look for your old ceiling.
Step two- put up your lights and conduit. If you are worried about the ceiling stipple breaking loose, put a little caulk on the part you are screwing to the ceiling. It will make a flat base for what you are putting up, and keep the possible asbestos from breaking free. Don't need to scrape any place, this way. Do not finish tightening the screws until the caulk dries, if it is not level enough for you when you tighten it all the way first.
I would strongly advise that you cut some 1/2" to 3/4" pieces of conduit to act as standoffs, to hold the light off the ceiling. Put the spacers up and run the screw through the light then the spacers, and the light will be much cooler, and last longer, and eliminate the possibility of the light overheating and cutting off. This will also make it easy so the light will only have a few points of contact of the spacers against the ceiling. This is an (old school) trick. You can use a pipe cutter for making spacers easy. Just don't use a pipe cutter for cutting the emt conduit, because of the sharp edge a pipe cutter will leave on the inside.
-- Jim in NC