Best way to remove popcorn ceilings?

Carol, a couple of different websites for you to check out

https://www.todayshomeowner.com/removing-textured-popcorn-ceilings/

To keep the cost down.. do it yourself. Removing popcorn ceiling is a pain in the ass... but is not difficult or complicated.

You need: a heavy-ish tarp the size of the room, a ladder, a garden sprayer filled with warm water, a 6-8 inch putty knife or drywall scraper (don't bother with the one with the bag... it get too heavy too fast), a large trash can or several 5 gal. buckets, eye protection, a broom and a dust pan, lineament for the stiff neck and arms (optional).

*Remove furniture and everything else from the room and lay down the tarp, set up the ladder.

*Spray an area of the popcorn about 3 ft X 3 ft (or a far as you can comfortably reach from the ladder)... wait about 15 minutes

*Spray the 1st area again and the next area

*Hold the scraper or putty knife at about 45 degrees and make long 'skimming" strokes along the ceiling removing the popcorn, letting it drop onto the tarp.. try not to dig the corners of the scraping tool into the drywall itself.. if it does not "skim" right off.. it is not wet enough... re-spray, wait a bit and try again. A little experimentation will get you the right angle and rhythm.

*Periodically sweep up the dropped popcorn and use the dust pan to put it in the buckets or trash can.... NOTE: wet popcorn can get really heavy, really fast, so empty buckets or trash can often... and don't try and roll up the tarp with the wet dry wall stuff in it... it will take the whole neighborhood to get it out to the trash (been there tried THAT! )

*Continue spraying and scraping and sweeping until all the popcorn is done.

Depending on how the drywall was or was not finished underneath the popcorn (not taping and mud-ing the drywall seams is why they used the popcorn in the first place) you will need to tape, mud, patch and sand the drywall before priming and painting the ceiling.

We have done that. I also used a product called Venetian Plaster (one coat Venetian Plaster, one coat paint w/primer) I tinted the paint to match the Venetian Plaster... no sanding.

Wow, great info. I need to remove my popcorn in my living room and this helps a lot.

https://www.hometalk.com/categories/remodeling-renovating/ceiling/popcorn-ceilings

Another thing that works really well if your ceilings are low enough and you don't like ladders is a floor scraper. You just have to be careful to not gouge the ceiling. I used one once and it worked amazing. I still had to go up to spray it with water, but a friend of mine used a paint sprayer with HOT water on their's so they could stay off the ladder.

The instructions are excellent from Marty, I might add, we know someone who duct taped his scraper to a wet/dry vacuum made for industrial warehouses etc or shops and vacuumed the popcorn as he scraped. I wish we had thought of that when we did ours.