What is the easiest, do-it-yourself way, to change your ceilings from popcorn to a flat finish?

Question

...or should I call in a professional?

Answer 1

The easiest do it yourself way to change your popcorn ceiling----. The first thing you need to do is cover everything with plastic including your carpet. It may be a better idea to move the furniture from one room to another area while you work. Get a garden type pump sprayer and fill it with warm water. Spray an area about 4'X4' and let the popcorn soak up the water. Once the area is saturated take a drywall joint taping knife 12"inch will work the fastest. Gently scrape the wet popcorn off of the ceiling and let it fall to the plastic on the floor.

Repeat this process untill all the popcorn is removed.

NOTE: if this popcorn ceiling has been previously painted you will be really working hard to remove the popcorn depending on how many coats of paint are on it. Sometimes they have been painted some times they have not. You will know as soon as you attempt to tackle this project.

Once the popcorn is removed buy some fast setting 20 or 40 minute joint compound, mix as directed on the package. Apply fiberglass joint tape to the areas where damaged occured from removal of the popcorn. If you were careful there won't be much damage to the ceiling. After the fiberglass tape is on the damaged areas, embed the tape with the fast setting compound. Be as neat as you can because the fast set type compounds can be difficult to sand once they are dry.

Once that step is done you can use a ready mixed taping and topping type compound. It can be applied with a wide taping knife. Try to apply it as neatly as possible, go over the entire ceiling with this compound, and let dry. Once it is dry, it can be sanded easily with a foam sanding block or sheets of 120 grit sanding paper. You may have to go over some areas and skim out little imperfections. When sanding, be sure to wear a quality dust mask! After all your mud work is done, prime with a good latex or shellac based primer, then paint. This ceiling depending on how much joint compound you use may require 2 coats of primer.

Wether or not you call a professional depends on your level of drive to do this project yourself. If the ceiling has'nt been painted like I mentioned above, the process outlined above will make short work of it. The only setback is it is a messy job, so be prepared to deal with dust and wet material. If you take your time and spend some money on a roll of painters plastic and cover everything, it will be alot easier to clean up.

Answer 2

The popcorn is sprayed on, often directly onto the drywall with no primer underneath. Scraping it off will tear into the paper, and you'll have lots of uneven spots, gouges, etc.



Also, nail heads aren't treated as carefully, because they don't show thru the popcorn, but are extremely visible on a flat ceiling. If the original construction didn't use enough nails, you may have gaps between the sheets, nail pops, etc.



I have had a flat ceiling, and LOVE the look, so I understand your desire. If I had to to it myself, I would have a professional remove the old ceiling and replace it with fresh board (have them use the heavier board and nail the heck out of it, so it doesn't sag), tape, sand, and paint.



This is a good opportunity to run speaker, phone, internet, power lines that upgrade the house, too. Add insulation for soundproofing, too.



I wouldn't have them try to mount fresh board over the popcorned surface, since you'll never get the board edges to match up well, and getting smooth seams is critical in that ceiling. It'd be harder to find the studs, the additional weight could cause the rafters to sag, all that is a concern.

Answer 3

Ick, no matter what you do, getting popcorn off the ceiling is going to be messy. Home Depot or other hardware stores) sells this thing that looks like a really wide scraper with a handle that you can put a broomstick into; it also has a frame around it where you can put a plastic bag (like a shopping bag) so when you scrape off the popcorn it falls into the bag. If you do this, get lots of small bags, and you have to spray some water on the ceiling to get the popcorn to come off. it sounds messy, but it's way too dusty if it's dry. if you spray and wait 2-3 minutes, the popcorn should come off pretty easily. Not fun, but it works. Good luck!

Answer 4

Take it from a former painter/tape and bed/texture guy. There is no easy way, but there is a less expensive way if you do it yourself. You'll need a wide putty knife, like 4". And you need to remove as much furniture from the room as possible because covering it still doesn't get it out of your way. If you like, doing one room at a time is a good way. Just transfer the furniture to another room, then once you've finished with that room, swap rooms. You have to literally scrape that popcorn junk off as much as possible. Careful not to gouge the ceiling too much. Once you think you've gotten ALL that you possible can, then get a wet sponge. Not a dish sponge, but a large tilers sponge. Go to the tile section in Lowe's or home depot, and find a nice big sponge. Get it almost dripping wet, but not quite, and wipe down the ceiling to help smooth out the rough spots. Then you're going to need to get some joint compound, or "mud" as it's normally called, and a texture gun, or "hopper". You'll need to float out the cieling as smooth as possible, kinda like filling in a pothole. It has to be smooth, or it'll show really bad when the job is done. After you've floated it out, sanded it, then you can apply the texture coat. If you're doing an "orange peel" you'll need a paint roller with a thick nap roller head. Ask which one you need at the store. If it's the spanish drag or "Splatter drag", you'll need the texture gun. Believe me, this is only the beginning............if I were you, I'd hire someone that knows what they're doing. Some things you just can't do on your own without a huge amount of help and consult from a pro. Good luck. I hate the popcorn stuff too. Another way I've done it is add a layer of 1/4" sheetrock over the old stuff and start fresh. Otherwise, you can tear out the existing sheetrock and replace it with new. IT's all how much you're willing to spend.

Answer 5

It is not that difficult, however it is messy......make sure you remove as much furniture as you can from the room and cover everything with plastic.....the easiest way to remove it is to take a spray bottle and spray a area until dripping and let it set for a few minutes then scrape off with a wide blade. After it is all removed you may need to re-mud areas that are not even on the ceiling....if I can do it you can do it, just take your time and be ready for a mess!

Answer 6

It is messy, messy, messy.

Spray a spot with water, let it soak in good and scrape.

You will want to remove everything from your room and put down plastic on the floor.

To replaster your ceiling, it is quite easy and Lowes has several books on it, tools and mud and everything. Don't be afraid to try it. All you are doing is smearing the plaster on to make a pattern or texture... the texture is much more interesting than just plain flat... and flat is really hard to do!! The texture is FUN to play with, something you can be proud of. I am a 45 year old woman and I can do it... I learned when I was 21, my dad did junk like that, and he let me plaster the kitchen! Just this last fall, I did one wall in my living room.

Answer 7

There are products that will soften the icky stuff and then you take a wide blade scraper and scrape it off. Trick is to not overly saturate and destroy the board underneath. Sand, remud the ceiling board. . Second option is to remove the ceiling and hang new wall board. Handy if you want to add a sky light, recessed lighting. Third option is to put new wall board over the popcorn. In all three cases......I'd call a pro. My neck is killing me just thinking about this.

Answer 8

Depends on what you want the job to look like when finished.