grasshopper
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We covered our popcorn ceiling with whitewashed tongue and groove. Even Ms G is happy with the new look.
Popcorn ceiling removal
- Thread starter f35phixer
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You just used drywall screws to hang the 1/4 drywall? Did you use a lift or just build "tee" braces?
This was a long time ago, so my memory is hazy. We used drywall screws and found joists to make sure it was secure. That wasn’t hard.
There was a couple of us and 1/4” isn’t that heavy, so I think we used ladders and held it in place. Maybe we had a tee? If I was to do it again, I’d get a lift if it was a big space. If it’s only a few sheets, I’d probably use a tee.
But at this point in my life, unless it’s a small space, I’d probably pay someone to do it. Heck, even for a small space I’d probably try to find someone. I hate dealing with sheetrock.
OP
OP
f35phixer
Full time employment: Posting here.
thanks all, we've been in this house 30 years, i have developed a filter, don't even notice them. We just had walls painted classis gray, brightened up room exponentially! with that said, the painter was trying to get popcorn away from the wall ceiling transition and scraped away sooted up popcorn, kinda looks like a sore thumb now. Had woodburning fireplace for long time, now gas....
the living room is 30X21 open to kitchen and hallway, the kitchen has a flat ceiling, so if i did go with 1/4" gypsum i'd have the little transition that might look worse then popcorn.
think i'll go into the closets and experiment with different size knife blades.
Luckily my SIL dad was a drywall installer and is going to go back to that as part time job when he retires from working at the Capitol....
the living room is 30X21 open to kitchen and hallway, the kitchen has a flat ceiling, so if i did go with 1/4" gypsum i'd have the little transition that might look worse then popcorn.
think i'll go into the closets and experiment with different size knife blades.
Luckily my SIL dad was a drywall installer and is going to go back to that as part time job when he retires from working at the Capitol....
euro
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I tend to agree! Particularly because often, what's underneath the popcorn is not pretty either. Popcorn was very popular because it is very good at hiding imperfections in the sheetrock alignment, taping, mudding, sanding, etc. So, once you remove the popcorn, you often have to re-level everything from scratch before you can paint.
My own house (built in 1991) as well as almost all my rental properties have popcorn and while nobody LIKES it, for most, it is just a minor thing.
ncbill
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Waste of time if it's still in good shape IMHO.
Even if you just can't stand the look it's a lot of work & mess, even DIY.
Even if you just can't stand the look it's a lot of work & mess, even DIY.
Telly
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I have extensive experience with removing popcorn. And replacing drywall, installing drywall, taping and mudding in existing and new construction. On flat ceilings, angled ceilings, in vertical skylight wells, etc. On 8' ceilings, 12'+ ceilings, and in-between. I don't think it's that big of a deal to remove popcorn. It just takes time, and some technique. I will caution though, if one is impatient, or lives in a household situation that all tasks must be completed in the same day, forget it. Also, for 12' and taller ceilings, a wheelable scaffold makes the job much easier.
Scraping it "dry" sounds like nonsense to me. All that's going to do is knock off the largest popcorn bits, and leave a bumpy mess, at best.
FWIW, here's what I do:
Prep work - I lay a plastic tarp down. If a small area, then a light-duty tarp is ok. A whole room, a heavier-duty tarp, like you can cover stuff outside with. If it's over a tile floor, can duct-tape some of the edges down to the tile to stop tarp movement. If over carpet or wood, get tarp over to wall, fold if needed, and cover wall-tarp joint with folded-lengthwise old bath towels or any kind of cloth, to cover that joint for tarp movement. - Have an old doubled-over bath towel or something similar to use as a doormat to wipe your feet off onto before leaving tarp to get something. You CAN get dried popcorn/compound out of carpeting later, but it's a big job you don't need to do! Plan ahead!
Suit-up - Ball cap. If warmer, no shirt, easy to wipe yerself once in awhile if needed. Particularly for high ceilings, avoid summer in a hot climate if possible, as it will be a lot hotter up there!
Tools - One gallon garden pump-up sprayer with adjustable nozzle to a cone spray. Warm water to start. - A cardboard box, lined with doubled plastic bags sitting on the floor to dump loads of popcorn/mud mix into. It gets heavy fast, so don't use a big box! - Two plastic drywall "knives". They actually look like plastic putty knives, which will work, too. One 6" wide, one narrower, like 2" wide. The 6 incher will be the primary. If either knives have sharp 90 degree corners, round them a bit with sandpaper first, don't want a sharp corner edge that can gouge. - A large spray bottle with water, the ability to actually spray a cone of water is important, not a mister bottle!!! Wrap the upper part of the bottle with some folded-over paper towels rubber-banded on, the area of the bottle you hold while working the pump handle, as the bottle will get wet gloppy and slippery, and the PT helps you hold on to it.
** A critical tool that makes the job much easier** - a reverse of a plasterer's mortar board. From Walmart years ago, I got a round combination cake/egg carrier. Has about a 5" height, had a removable disc inside with egg-bumps in it, all I care about is the lid. About 12" in diameter, has about a 3/4" lip on it, and two plastic handles that are close together. I masking-taped the handles together in a position that I can slip my hand into comfortably (knuckles-up, like I was going to punch the ceiling), while holding it upside-down up parallel to the ceiling. As I scrape, the glop drops right into the lid. Then wipe the knife off on the raised lid edge, and scrape again, repeat repeat. When the lid starts getting heavy or running out of room, scrape it all into the box and head up the ladder again. This really reduces the mess, and the ladder does not become an awful white slippery dangerous mess.
Technique - If 8' ceiling, do this from the floor first - spray a 2' x 2' or so square to the point of dripping. Wait a minute, and do again. Once you get going you can keep a "softening up" square ahead of you while you scrape another. Use plastic knife to scrape almost parallel with ceiling. If it's not just gliding off when the knife goes under it, it's too dry, use spray bottle to add water. IMPORTANT! do not scrape 90 degrees into drywall tape! So along the ceiling/wall joint, you want to be scraping parallel to the wall, not 90 degrees right up to it! Out in the field of the ceiling, you will get a feel for the pattern of how the drywall sheets were put up, and go parallel down a joint, not 90 degrees across them.
"Dry spots" - you will find spots that don't want to scrape easily. These are deeper spots of drywall compound, like the spotted nail or screw dents, and approaching and over the drywall tape joints themselves. They will suck up the water, so spray them more. You want to scrape the popcorn and it's compound off, but don't go overboard and start scraping off a lot of drywall compound nor the paper tape of the joints!
My experience has been that houses that were going to be popcorned may not have the absolute best drywall taping job done, so some taping repair may be needed. But don't abuse the tape joints to add to it.
Geeze, I think I wrote a BOOK here! But it's all free!
Scraping it "dry" sounds like nonsense to me. All that's going to do is knock off the largest popcorn bits, and leave a bumpy mess, at best.
FWIW, here's what I do:
Prep work - I lay a plastic tarp down. If a small area, then a light-duty tarp is ok. A whole room, a heavier-duty tarp, like you can cover stuff outside with. If it's over a tile floor, can duct-tape some of the edges down to the tile to stop tarp movement. If over carpet or wood, get tarp over to wall, fold if needed, and cover wall-tarp joint with folded-lengthwise old bath towels or any kind of cloth, to cover that joint for tarp movement. - Have an old doubled-over bath towel or something similar to use as a doormat to wipe your feet off onto before leaving tarp to get something. You CAN get dried popcorn/compound out of carpeting later, but it's a big job you don't need to do! Plan ahead!
Suit-up - Ball cap. If warmer, no shirt, easy to wipe yerself once in awhile if needed. Particularly for high ceilings, avoid summer in a hot climate if possible, as it will be a lot hotter up there!
Tools - One gallon garden pump-up sprayer with adjustable nozzle to a cone spray. Warm water to start. - A cardboard box, lined with doubled plastic bags sitting on the floor to dump loads of popcorn/mud mix into. It gets heavy fast, so don't use a big box! - Two plastic drywall "knives". They actually look like plastic putty knives, which will work, too. One 6" wide, one narrower, like 2" wide. The 6 incher will be the primary. If either knives have sharp 90 degree corners, round them a bit with sandpaper first, don't want a sharp corner edge that can gouge. - A large spray bottle with water, the ability to actually spray a cone of water is important, not a mister bottle!!! Wrap the upper part of the bottle with some folded-over paper towels rubber-banded on, the area of the bottle you hold while working the pump handle, as the bottle will get wet gloppy and slippery, and the PT helps you hold on to it.
** A critical tool that makes the job much easier** - a reverse of a plasterer's mortar board. From Walmart years ago, I got a round combination cake/egg carrier. Has about a 5" height, had a removable disc inside with egg-bumps in it, all I care about is the lid. About 12" in diameter, has about a 3/4" lip on it, and two plastic handles that are close together. I masking-taped the handles together in a position that I can slip my hand into comfortably (knuckles-up, like I was going to punch the ceiling), while holding it upside-down up parallel to the ceiling. As I scrape, the glop drops right into the lid. Then wipe the knife off on the raised lid edge, and scrape again, repeat repeat. When the lid starts getting heavy or running out of room, scrape it all into the box and head up the ladder again. This really reduces the mess, and the ladder does not become an awful white slippery dangerous mess.
Technique - If 8' ceiling, do this from the floor first - spray a 2' x 2' or so square to the point of dripping. Wait a minute, and do again. Once you get going you can keep a "softening up" square ahead of you while you scrape another. Use plastic knife to scrape almost parallel with ceiling. If it's not just gliding off when the knife goes under it, it's too dry, use spray bottle to add water. IMPORTANT! do not scrape 90 degrees into drywall tape! So along the ceiling/wall joint, you want to be scraping parallel to the wall, not 90 degrees right up to it! Out in the field of the ceiling, you will get a feel for the pattern of how the drywall sheets were put up, and go parallel down a joint, not 90 degrees across them.
"Dry spots" - you will find spots that don't want to scrape easily. These are deeper spots of drywall compound, like the spotted nail or screw dents, and approaching and over the drywall tape joints themselves. They will suck up the water, so spray them more. You want to scrape the popcorn and it's compound off, but don't go overboard and start scraping off a lot of drywall compound nor the paper tape of the joints!
My experience has been that houses that were going to be popcorned may not have the absolute best drywall taping job done, so some taping repair may be needed. But don't abuse the tape joints to add to it.
Geeze, I think I wrote a BOOK here! But it's all free!
OP
OP
f35phixer
Full time employment: Posting here.
I have extensive experience with removing popcorn. And replacing drywall, installing drywall, taping and mudding in existing and new construction. On flat ceilings, angled ceilings, in vertical skylight wells, etc. On 8' ceilings, 12'+ ceilings, and in-between. I don't think it's that big of a deal to remove popcorn. It just takes time, and some technique. I will caution though, if one is impatient, or lives in a household situation that all tasks must be completed in the same day, forget it. Also, for 12' and taller ceilings, a wheelable scaffold makes the job much easier.
Scraping it "dry" sounds like nonsense to me. All that's going to do is knock off the largest popcorn bits, and leave a bumpy mess, at best.
FWIW, here's what I do:
Prep work - I lay a plastic tarp down. If a small area, then a light-duty tarp is ok. A whole room, a heavier-duty tarp, like you can cover stuff outside with. If it's over a tile floor, can duct-tape some of the edges down to the tile to stop tarp movement. If over carpet or wood, get tarp over to wall, fold if needed, and cover wall-tarp joint with folded-lengthwise old bath towels or any kind of cloth, to cover that joint for tarp movement. - Have an old doubled-over bath towel or something similar to use as a doormat to wipe your feet off onto before leaving tarp to get something. You CAN get dried popcorn/compound out of carpeting later, but it's a big job you don't need to do! Plan ahead!
Suit-up - Ball cap. If warmer, no shirt, easy to wipe yerself once in awhile if needed. Particularly for high ceilings, avoid summer in a hot climate if possible, as it will be a lot hotter up there!
Tools - One gallon garden pump-up sprayer with adjustable nozzle to a cone spray. Warm water to start. - A cardboard box, lined with doubled plastic bags sitting on the floor to dump loads of popcorn/mud mix into. It gets heavy fast, so don't use a big box! - Two plastic drywall "knives". They actually look like plastic putty knives, which will work, too. One 6" wide, one narrower, like 2" wide. The 6 incher will be the primary. If either knives have sharp 90 degree corners, round them a bit with sandpaper first, don't want a sharp corner edge that can gouge. - A large spray bottle with water, the ability to actually spray a cone of water is important, not a mister bottle!!! Wrap the upper part of the bottle with some folded-over paper towels rubber-banded on, the area of the bottle you hold while working the pump handle, as the bottle will get wet gloppy and slippery, and the PT helps you hold on to it.
** A critical tool that makes the job much easier** - a reverse of a plasterer's mortar board. From Walmart years ago, I got a round combination cake/egg carrier. Has about a 5" height, had a removable disc inside with egg-bumps in it, all I care about is the lid. About 12" in diameter, has about a 3/4" lip on it, and two plastic handles that are close together. I masking-taped the handles together in a position that I can slip my hand into comfortably (knuckles-up, like I was going to punch the ceiling), while holding it upside-down up parallel to the ceiling. As I scrape, the glop drops right into the lid. Then wipe the knife off on the raised lid edge, and scrape again, repeat repeat. When the lid starts getting heavy or running out of room, scrape it all into the box and head up the ladder again. This really reduces the mess, and the ladder does not become an awful white slippery dangerous mess.
Technique - If 8' ceiling, do this from the floor first - spray a 2' x 2' or so square to the point of dripping. Wait a minute, and do again. Once you get going you can keep a "softening up" square ahead of you while you scrape another. Use plastic knife to scrape almost parallel with ceiling. If it's not just gliding off when the knife goes under it, it's too dry, use spray bottle to add water. IMPORTANT! do not scrape 90 degrees into drywall tape! So along the ceiling/wall joint, you want to be scraping parallel to the wall, not 90 degrees right up to it! Out in the field of the ceiling, you will get a feel for the pattern of how the drywall sheets were put up, and go parallel down a joint, not 90 degrees across them.
"Dry spots" - you will find spots that don't want to scrape easily. These are deeper spots of drywall compound, like the spotted nail or screw dents, and approaching and over the drywall tape joints themselves. They will suck up the water, so spray them more. You want to scrape the popcorn and it's compound off, but don't go overboard and start scraping off a lot of drywall compound nor the paper tape of the joints!
My experience has been that houses that were going to be popcorned may not have the absolute best drywall taping job done, so some taping repair may be needed. But don't abuse the tape joints to add to it.
Geeze, I think I wrote a BOOK here! But it's all free!
Excellent Telly!!!! Thanks for the BIBLE on Popcorn !
F35,
I was a house painter in my "youth". We often just rolled a nice coat of ceiling white latex paint over the popcorn ceilings. Go parallel with the room windows. Hope you don't need two coats to make it look good. This cleans them up very nice, and gets rid of the dust crumbles.
If they used cheap popcorn spray material (not enough paint), the popcorn could come off when rolling paint on, but then you are right back where you started.
My brother still does painting work professionally. He wets them down with water using a sprayer, scraps most of it off, and then does a textured hand trawl coat, and then paints that. Way less labor than trying to make it smooth.
Looks great. I've done this on some of my ceilings without popcorn spray.
Good luck, JP
I was a house painter in my "youth". We often just rolled a nice coat of ceiling white latex paint over the popcorn ceilings. Go parallel with the room windows. Hope you don't need two coats to make it look good. This cleans them up very nice, and gets rid of the dust crumbles.
If they used cheap popcorn spray material (not enough paint), the popcorn could come off when rolling paint on, but then you are right back where you started.
My brother still does painting work professionally. He wets them down with water using a sprayer, scraps most of it off, and then does a textured hand trawl coat, and then paints that. Way less labor than trying to make it smooth.
Looks great. I've done this on some of my ceilings without popcorn spray.
Good luck, JP
Bamaman
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
My father put popcorn ceilings in my lake house when he built it 40 years ago. I know the quality of the sheetrock finish underneath is downright unacceptable.
If I removed the popcorn ceilings, I'd just remove the ceiling drywall and have a professional replace it. I'd also be putting in more modern lighting at the same time.
If I removed the popcorn ceilings, I'd just remove the ceiling drywall and have a professional replace it. I'd also be putting in more modern lighting at the same time.
ownyourfuture
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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- Jun 18, 2013
- Messages
- 1,561
Wasn't aware of this.....thanksThey sell popcorn in a spray can, so no special equipment was needed
I had a plumbing issue upstairs a about a year ago. Water leaked to the ceiling in the basement shower & stained a 2.0' diameter area.
The 'popcorn' in about half of that area fell off.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Homax-1...sy-Patch-Spray-Texture-4094/202061372#overlay
The reviews are definitely mixed. love or hate.
I'm going to buy a can & practice on a piece of cardboard 1st. If it looks like it'll work, I'll try it on my own, if not I'll try to find a pro.
ownyourfuture
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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Bought my first & only home on July 1, 1994. Popcorn ceilings throughout.
Of course I didn't know they were called that until I found this thread yesterday...lol
I made the decision not to allow smoking in the house from day 1.
Thank God for that!
OP
OP
f35phixer
Full time employment: Posting here.
Understand Bama, This is a townhouse community built in ~1989, so you can only imagine, time was money and the finish isn't maybe what I want to find underneath is shoddy! As i think thru all this, wondering if maybe It might be best to just rip ceiling down and start fresh. We had a leak in bath down stairs, ripped the mess out, as we were looking up in the infrastructure (wires,ducts etc) i could see some ducts might not have been taped as good as they should have been.... So i had to fix couple ducts with new tape..... Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmm, you all got me thinking, not always a good thing ;-)
also liking Tasso' Armstrong's Woodhaven as a possible....
also liking Tasso' Armstrong's Woodhaven as a possible....
OP
OP
f35phixer
Full time employment: Posting here.
this is called a skim coat. sometimes it takes 2 coats. need to lightly sand it before painting.
Koolau
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
One guy using a heavy paint roller rolling on mud (I forget - maybe diluted slightly) followed by one or two guys with mud trowels spreading the stuff as best as possible. All followed a couple of days later with sanding to a fine finish - then coat of primer followed by coat of ceiling paint. Works great - but lots of hours. YMMV
Yes, I removed the popcorn ceiling in one of our basement rooms. It was a royal PITA, but it was worth it. You have to be careful to not wet the popcorn too much before scraping, otherwise you will start taking some of the paper backing of the drywall (beneath the popcorn) when you scrape it off. I am very happy with the smooth texture of that particular room now, after painting it.
I used the tool in the link below. You attach a plastic grocery bag to it to collect the scrapings. However, it was still pretty messy. Make sure you thrown down a dropcloth!
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Homax-Ceiling-Texture-Scraper-for-Popcorn-Ceiling-Removal-6104/202061374?keyword=popcorn+ceiling+scraper&semanticToken=d04t00r30122000000_2021062921251855094912985558_us-central1-6jz1+d04t00r30122000000+%3E++rid%3A%7B7f96c71c948acc130f0a040f72ed61ad%7D%3Arid+st%3A%7Bpopcorn+ceiling+scraper%7D%3Ast+oos%3A%7B0%3A1%7D+dln%3A%7B583281%7D+tgr%3A%7BEnriched+Product+Info%7D+smf%3A%7Bca%2Cbr%2Cfe%2Ccu%2Cpo%7D%3Asmf+nf%3A%7B1%7D%3Anf+qu%3A%7Bpopcorn+ceiling+scraper%7D%3Aqu
I used the tool in the link below. You attach a plastic grocery bag to it to collect the scrapings. However, it was still pretty messy. Make sure you thrown down a dropcloth!
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Homax-Ceiling-Texture-Scraper-for-Popcorn-Ceiling-Removal-6104/202061374?keyword=popcorn+ceiling+scraper&semanticToken=d04t00r30122000000_2021062921251855094912985558_us-central1-6jz1+d04t00r30122000000+%3E++rid%3A%7B7f96c71c948acc130f0a040f72ed61ad%7D%3Arid+st%3A%7Bpopcorn+ceiling+scraper%7D%3Ast+oos%3A%7B0%3A1%7D+dln%3A%7B583281%7D+tgr%3A%7BEnriched+Product+Info%7D+smf%3A%7Bca%2Cbr%2Cfe%2Ccu%2Cpo%7D%3Asmf+nf%3A%7B1%7D%3Anf+qu%3A%7Bpopcorn+ceiling+scraper%7D%3Aqu
ArmchairMillionaire23
Recycles dryer sheets
While it was not a popcorn ceiling, we had a house we restored/remodeled that had ceilings with cracked plaster and peeling paint. We just covered them with 5/16" wood. It started off as knotty pine tongue-and-groove boards from Home Depot. They came in a package that was a little over $1 per square foot. (in 2014 prices) We primed and painted them white to get the look of vintage bead-board ceilings. I put them up with an air-powered brad nailer and added crown molding for a classic look.
Depending on the size of the 'popcorn' the wood might be able to cover it smoothly.
Just my 2¢ based on what we did in the past. Sorry about the third photo. I could not get it to rotate as I had the camera rotated when I snapped the photo.
Attachments
I have removed a lot of popcorn thru the years. I scraped most of it off dry but sometimes used a spray bottle of water. In several cases I was happy with the look after scraping and simply primed and painted the ceiling. In other cases I brought in a drywall guy to skim coat it. In my opinion it is easier to scrape it than to add a new layer of drywall. If the popcorn has been painted that can make the process more difficult so maybe then adding new drywall would be better.
iRent2u
Dryer sheet aficionado
Popcorn Ceiling
I have been a Drywall contractor for over 40 years. The best way is to get a pump up sprayer and spray a 3’x3’ area and scrape it. If the popcorn has ever been painted it is much more difficult. I started my business removing popcorn textures and small repairs.
Most of the time when popcorn texture is used they only put 2 coats of joint compound on the ceiling. You will need to sand and then apply at least one more coat on all seams and sand your finish coat. Also, we use a power orbital sander with vacuum attachment (you may be able to rent one) to remove debris that was not totally scraped off. We always “bag off” the walls with plastic and cover the floors with plastic. Once completed pull plastic off walls and drop on to the floor plastic and them move all of the corners to the center of the floor. Little to no mess. (You are the one that will look like a ghost.)
Good luck. PM if I can be of help.
I have been a Drywall contractor for over 40 years. The best way is to get a pump up sprayer and spray a 3’x3’ area and scrape it. If the popcorn has ever been painted it is much more difficult. I started my business removing popcorn textures and small repairs.
Most of the time when popcorn texture is used they only put 2 coats of joint compound on the ceiling. You will need to sand and then apply at least one more coat on all seams and sand your finish coat. Also, we use a power orbital sander with vacuum attachment (you may be able to rent one) to remove debris that was not totally scraped off. We always “bag off” the walls with plastic and cover the floors with plastic. Once completed pull plastic off walls and drop on to the floor plastic and them move all of the corners to the center of the floor. Little to no mess. (You are the one that will look like a ghost.)
Good luck. PM if I can be of help.
The Festool Planex system is designed for removing popcorn ceilings quickly and dust free. The device "sands" off the popcorn and vacuums it up at the same time. Here's a link to a YouTube video of the system being used:
Here's a link to a "House Beautiful" article about using the Planex for popcorn ceiling removal: https://www.housebeautiful.com/life...-easy-drywall-sander-popcorn-ceiling-removal/
Here's a link to a "House Beautiful" article about using the Planex for popcorn ceiling removal: https://www.housebeautiful.com/life...-easy-drywall-sander-popcorn-ceiling-removal/
pb4uski
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Looks like a very neat tool.
