# removing ceiling texture



## i_plant_art

what is the best/ easiest/cleanest way to remove ceiling texture from ceilings. Ive got it in my home and hate it. Ive been wanting to take it down for a while and have some time lately to do so any ideas would be great. Thanks


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## AAPaint

Depends on the texture and if it's been painted or not. Most require soaking with water and scraping to remove. Then you will need to prime, skim, sand, prime, and paint for top notch work. 

What are you trying to remove, and what are you wanting to accomplish? Do you want to re-texture with something else, or do you want smooth ceilings?


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## Peladu

AAPaint,
You said soak it with water, but would a steamer work? In case I dont want water getting on..lets say..a wood floor or furniture? I know I could cover everything, but would a steamer work at all? Thanks


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## Mike Finley

I'm in the middle of this now, removing about 1500 square feet of pop corn. Lucky none of it seems to have been painted so it's coming off really easy. Hot, hot water in a pump sprayer with a tarp you move around to catch the scrapings from your 14 inch drywall knife is all I usually need. Luckily this is knock-down texture land so if you are at least a little careful and don't dig any deep gouges you don't have to do any skim coating or sanding, the new knock down will cover everything up.


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## AAPaint

Peladu, I wouldn't bother with a steamer. It's not hard to control the water with a garden sprayer on mist. Almost everybit of it absorbs directly into the ceiling, then like Mike said, you just scrape it off. I will usually use some 0.013 mil plastic to cover the walls, then some heavier stuff on the floor. After I scrape, I take up the floor plastic, wad up the mess and out it goes. If skimming and sanding are necessary, I lay another floor peice down, get my sanding done, and wrap the whole mess up in one big ball when I'm done. If the job is just ceilings, you can keep the plastic on the walls until priming and painting are done as well. I do ceilings like this with absolutely no disturbance to anything else in the room. Not furniture, flooring, walls, anything.


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## slickshift

Depends on the texture
Popcorn, sand?

Sanding and skim coating
Water and scraping

It's messy either way


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## IHI

I know this could pose as 6 to one and half dozen to another, but I had one job like this and they wanted to eliminate the popcorn stuff, we ended up doing a sheetrock overlay and started from scratch. Only one room and we had it done in a day as far as hanging, tape and mudding so it was'nt like a whole house deal, I could see that running into some bigger doaller amounts material wise.

Never had the misfortune of scraping-knocking loudly on wood right now-but everybody I talked to says it's a miserable job with sore shoulders


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## Peladu

AAPaint, thanks for the reply/input....


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## Mike Finley

IHI said:


> everybody I talked to says it's a miserable job with sore shoulders


I don't know, I think people are greatly exagerating it. The first room I did on this project was 12x16, it took maybe 30-45 minutes total time.


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## i_plant_art

thanks guys--ive never had this come up before thats why i wanted to ask. It is a popcorn ceiling. Has not ever been painted. Tried the hot water and 14" knife worked out well. I started in the laundry since it was small ( this is in my own house not for a client) the wife got home saw how easily it was going and got up there and did it for a couple of hours... ( if she would work like this all the time id let her quit her day job!!) so its going pretty good as of right now. THanks for the input guys. We going to skim prime and paint when we are done i just hate the look of the popcorn ceilings smooth is so much clasier looking.

thanks again folks


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## Grumpy

A hammer and some new drywall.  

What can I say? I am a roofer not an interior guy.


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## Mike Finley

A couple of hours in a small laundry room is a lot of time unless it has been painted or something. Make sure you soak it good and use really hot water, it should come off as fast as you can put your knife up and move it, no back and forth just one smooth motion. 

Good luck with it all.


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## i_plant_art

mike- to clarify some more the couple of hours was the laundry room plus starting on other rooms... were going to do the whole house this way. Sorry for the mislead info.


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## Teetorbilt

Here's a system that I came up with about a year ago.

I found a push hoe at a yard sale and put a 1/4" radius on the corners. I duct taped it to my big Craftsman vac with the floor sweep attachment. 95% of the crap comes off dry and there is very little mess. Edges and corners still have to be dealt with, I use a 6" taping knife with the vac nozzle right there. Come back later with the wet sponge.


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## KingOfDrywall

simpley resheet it with 3/8 drywall Or mix 90 minute durabond in a 6 gallon bucket to a consistensy a little thicker than paint and apply with a paint roller. without sanding apply another coat. after 2 coats take a sanding pole and sand very lightly.


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## cabber24

What about removing the texture from a "swirled" pattern on the ceiling?


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## Brockster

cabber24 said:


> What about removing the texture from a "swirled" pattern on the ceiling?


Sounds like you'll need to "float" it out with a couple of coats.


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## Frankawitz

The thing I have always wondered about with using alot of water on sheetrock is that you could cause the paper to pull from the gypsum, and it doesn't show up intil it's repainted. A light spray mist of water should work but you may have some dust, And depending on when the house(Before 1989) was built you have the chance of asbestoes in the popcorn textures. Just make sure you wear a dust mask,:thumbsup:


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## hiphopjam

I know a service guy who does ceiling repairs and he had a guy make him a little gizmo just for this purpose. He took a floor scraper and a mud pan and attached them both together so that the popcorn would fall into the mud pan. It worked really well.


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## We Fix Houses

Just did a water damage job. Water from condo unit above. Lab tested the popcorn ceiling 1 hr turnaround $50 so I could start the next morning. 12 hr result $25, 24 hr result $18. Billed the ins co $110 ea for 2 tests.

EMSL is all over the US. Drop off or mail / Fed Ex. Represent yourself as a company or you'll pay a lot more.

Steve


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## KHouse75

When I did this with one of my houses many years ago, I took a floor scraper and fashioned a box under it with sheet metal. I attached a long hose to it and attached it to my shopvac. Worked great.

My wife told me I couldn't scrape off the popcorn because I'd make a mess and would never clean it up...I showed her! Then I realized that I still had to sand it whether I skim coated it or not! I couldn't devise a clean way to do that. My old craftsman vaccuum sander doesn't capture all the dust.


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## dreamz

I've removed alot of this. The easiest way for me was to take my paint sprayer and hit it with a light mist and let it set for a few. Take a 12" blade and scrape it off without hitting the tape joints. If its been painted you might have to hit it twice and get up under the paint without gouging the ceiling.

They have a contraption thats supposed to catch the popcorn, but those get heavy and more in your way of doing a good clean job.


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## cabber24

Is the material used to make popcorn ceilings likely the same as the material used to make a swirl pattern?

Can I take the same approach when removing a swirled ceiling as the approach used to remove popcorn ceilings?


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## dreamz

Probably not. Swirl is probably done with plaster or compound, then painted. I would test a small area first before I got too carried away to find the best way to remove.


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## remodeling joe

i've never found a way to remove the swirl texture without tearing into the drywall paper... just sand it with 80 grit as much as your shoulders can handle and refloat.


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## Dmax Consulting

there's another post on the introduction section about this.


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## antonio zcruz

quitate de pedos pegale un papel lijador de 40 grit a la esponja de la maquina lijadora porter cable y que no se te pase usarla con la aspiradora lo malo que no lija asta el angulo esquinero .


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## antonio zcruz

porter cable ,glued (stick) a 40 grit sheet on the sandingsponch dont forget the vacum
and scrap the corners by hand (spray water whit soap) to kep moistu..... for more time


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