Popcorn ceilings

Steve S · #1 08-13-2008, 07:57 PM

I'd like to paint one of our rooms but it's covered with that popcorn looking stuff. How do I remove it?

mike_v_s · #2 08-13-2008, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve S

I'd like to paint one of our rooms but it's covered with that popcorn looking stuff. How do I remove it?

Never had to do it, but I assume you scrape it all off. Yuo'll probably have to do a btter tape/float job on the seams after you're done, though. I know at my house they used the popcorn to hide some less -than-stellar seam work.

Mike

tplyons · #3 08-13-2008, 08:03 PM

I've heard it's actually easier to either spackle over it and try to level it yourself, or just tear down the drywall.

cheesemonkey · #4 08-13-2008, 08:06 PM

butter and salt it then just eat it. Unless its that kettlekorn stuff or whatever because that tastes nasty.

BillytheBassist · #5 08-13-2008, 08:06 PM

If all you want to do is remove it then you just scrape it off with a wide scraper blade or 6" puddy knife and then sand it with an extendable sander. If you would like to paint over it without damaging it then you can buy a special paint roller called an"accoustic" roller brush to apply the paint without removing the accoustics.

Vince S. · #6 08-13-2008, 08:14 PM

You might want to scrape a chunk of it off first and send it in for asbestos testing before taking it all down. Asbestos was used in a lot of popcorn ceiling mixtures in houses built before the 1980s.

L-A · #7 08-13-2008, 08:22 PM

There's stuff designed to dampen it and make it easier to remove. Sorry if I can't be more precise, but a quick search will probably give you a complete DIY solution.

Spector_Ray · #8 08-13-2008, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by L-A

There's stuff designed to dampen it and make it easier to remove. Sorry if I can't be more precise, but a quick search will probably give you a complete DIY solution.

Agreed. There are products out there that allow you to dampen it, then scrape it off. Ron Hazelton says to just use plain water.

http://www.ronhazelton.com/howto/pop...ng_removal.htm

jazzy grille · #9 08-13-2008, 09:08 PM

I hate that stuff...

Here in Florida they are just starting to get away from using it. Does anyone know why it is used? The stuff looks hideous and collects dust like none other...

Edit:

I knew there was a class act reason for it...

Quote:

Wiki:Popcorn ceiling is a term for a spray-on or paint-on acoustic ceiling treatment often used in the 1960s and 1970s in American residential construction. Its bright white "cottage cheese" texture, often with small bits of gold-colored glitter attached, was good at covering poor workmanship in the attachment and taping of the drywall and helped eliminate echoes and reflected sound. It was also quickly and easily applied in new construction. It was often the standard for bedroom and residential hallways ceilings, while kitchen and living rooms ceilings would normally be textured in smoother skip-trowel or orange peel texture.

DigMe · #10 08-13-2008, 09:42 PM

I hate it too. I scraped it off the ceiling when I redid our bathroom. Just spray some water on it with a squirt bottle and use the wide-blade scraper as suggested.

bc

Steve S · #11 08-13-2008, 10:14 PM

Wow...thanks for all the good info!

Skel · #12 08-13-2008, 11:00 PM

I heard it was a real pain to remove that stuff and end up with a nice looking result. There are people who make their living specializing in just that, or at least they stay busy doing only that.

A little confused though - you say you want to paint a room, but it has a popcorn ceiling, as if that's stopping you from painting. Why? In almost all cases, the popcorn ceiling is an off-white color. If you paint the ceiling (IMHO) the same color as the walls -say blue, for example, it wouldn't look good. The ceiling, popcorn or not, looks better white, or some off white, again IMHO. I have it in some of the rooms of my house and I just deal with it - I don't think it looks that bad. Once you get yours removed, it will probably come back into some kind of cool art deco style. And why did they do it originally? For looks - like orange shag carpeting and avocado appliances.

James Hart · #13 08-13-2008, 11:28 PM

I use to paint houses... I'd rather remove it than repaint it!!!! Even the foam disk rollers made for painting it will peel the crap right off if you aren't paying attention!

As said, wet, scrap, sand, paint. If you want to ease the unevenness left behind mix a gallon of mud** in 2 gallons of celling paint and use a shaggy wool roller. It'll leave a bit of texture enough to cover the remnants of the popcorn without being too much of a texture itself.

As for Skel's 'white' ceiling comment, I paint all my ceilings with a very slightly blue tinted off-white. The 'coolness' (as apposed to the warmth of a yellow or red tinting) really gives an air of cleanness that a warm or pure white lacks.

[edit]
** Mud would be the technical name for Spackle... ie Drywall Mud
[/edit]

Steve S · #14 08-14-2008, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skel

I heard it was a real pain to remove that stuff and end up with a nice looking result. There are people who make their living specializing in just that, or at least they stay busy doing only that.

A little confused though - you say you want to paint a room, but it has a popcorn ceiling, as if that's stopping you from painting. Why? In almost all cases, the popcorn ceiling is an off-white color. If you paint the ceiling (IMHO) the same color as the walls -say blue, for example, it wouldn't look good. The ceiling, popcorn or not, looks better white, or some off white, again IMHO. I have it in some of the rooms of my house and I just deal with it - I don't think it looks that bad. Once you get yours removed, it will probably come back into some kind of cool art deco style. And why did they do it originally? For looks - like orange shag carpeting and avocado appliances.

It is weird, only that room has that type of ceiling. I want to remove it because there was a leak in an upstairs pipe and the water went through the downstairs ceiling. The contractor fixed the hole but it doesn't blend well with the rest of the ceiling. I guess it comes down to painting the entire popcorn ceiling or tearing it down then painting it.

Skel · #15 08-14-2008, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve S

It is weird, only that room has that type of ceiling. I want to remove it because there was a leak in an upstairs pipe and the water went through the downstairs ceiling. The contractor fixed the hole but it doesn't blend well with the rest of the ceiling. I guess it comes down to painting the entire popcorn ceiling or tearing it down then painting it.

Oh wow, that is a bit strange to just have the one room, but I see where you're coming from now. It sounds like James Hart is, at least, one expert painter here, so you'll get the right info. Wikipedia's got nothin' on this place.

DigMe · #16 08-14-2008, 08:23 AM

Yeah, definitely take it down before painting it. That would be a big mess to try to paint it.

bc

WickedPissah · #17 08-14-2008, 08:56 AM

Are popcorn ceilings the ones with what some call "guido swirls"?

Bob Lee (QSC) · #18 08-14-2008, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WickedPissah

Are popcorn ceilings the ones with what some call "guido swirls"?

No. In southern New England you see a lot of textured ceilings with swirls.

Out here in California almost every home you see has "popcorn" ceilings. It looks like someone sprayed a layer of small random pebbles onto the ceiling surface.

WickedPissah · #19 08-14-2008, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Lee (QSC)

No. In southern New England you see a lot of textured ceilings with swirls.

Out here in California almost every home you see has "popcorn" ceilings. It looks like someone sprayed a layer of small random pebbles onto the ceiling surface.

oh. i have guido swirls.

SelenaBassGirl · #20 08-14-2008, 06:13 PM

after watching a lot of those home flip shows, I see they scrape it..looks messy, but not as messy as putting popcorn back on the ceiling! lol! We live near an interstate and I live in a triple wide manufactured home, and where the house settled and the rumblings from the interstate, there were little cracks in the ceiling, so my husband and I tried to repair it. We had to scrape some of that "popcorn" off, use some of that spackling junk to repair and got that spray stuff to put up and it got EVERYWHERE!!!