I have popcorn ceilings.
I want them to go away. I have heard one way is to use a spray bottle and putty knife. I know this is way time consuming and messy. I have also heard of doing 1/4 inch dry wall to the ceiling . Is this bad. It seems a lot less time consuming. We are talking family room, kitchen , Breakfast room, dining room foyer and hallway. for the starters.
http://www.networx.com/article/the-mostly-pa...
I'm in the scrape camp as opposed to the cover camp. To me covering up the problem does not really make it "go away" you just hiding it for the next person to deal with it.
Once your sure you do not have asbestos then you can proceed with the task at hand.
As you understand this can be a wet and dirty job to do. All depends if they used paint when ...»
There are special scrapers that you can purchase at most big box stores that have long handles on them so you do not need to work from a ladder. Many of these scrapers have holders for plastic bags used to catch the stuff as you scrape the offending material off of the ceiling. Using a spay bottle or even a garden sprayer will help dampen the stuff thus weakening the bond to the ceiling making it easier to remove.
Think about the process of veneering over. You will have all the edges to worry about. You will have more of a mess by the time you are finished.
Buy some thin thin poly and t mask off everything right up to the ceiling, Get a good pump up sprayer and a 12 wide drywall knife and a stool to work off. I know you will be surprised how this ...»
You will need to most probably do some final finishing to the drywall finish as the original finisher knew it was going to be popcorn and didn't finish it as smooth as if it was to be painted. Use your 12" knife and some slightly diluded mud and you should get a nearly sandless finish.
All your edges are already beded and finished.
Granted, with furniture in the occupied home, it will be disruptive. But I thing scraping is the easier, faster and cleaner way.
I ask this because I have textured walls that we just painted & they turned out beautifully (in pink) with no extra prep. Yes, I said Pink.
The word "Textured" describes many many different finishes. Here in Va, the norm is a "sand finish" plaster. Its real plaster with a little silica sand mixed in, applied over a gypsum board, ...»
The "drywall" process has many textures using all kinds of procedures. One is called "knockdown"
There are lots of other plaster textures used in different parts of the world.
Can you describe yours?
Have fun !!
That way you will not have to call a professional to skim all the ceilings after you have removed the popcorn. The popcorn went on in the first place to save them from this process. ...»
Personally, I like this look even better than flat ceilings,
If you are resolved to have your ceilings slick, I would think about calling in a drywall contractor if you want them to look smooth when it's finished and still have your sanity (-;
Best, Charles
A professional would likely do at least some knockdown of high points before hanging new rock anyways too.
I would find it far easier to just deal with knocking down and scraping the popcorn and then applying new skimcoat finish