Because we bought a house built in 1978, we got the added bonus of popcorn ceilings. There is nothing "wrong" with popcorn ceilings, but as a child of the 80's, I hate them! They're ugly, they hold in smells and turn color, they fall to the ground if you touch them. They are just plain annoying. Having taken down the popcorn in my parents house a decade ago, I felt confident that we could rid our new home of them as well. One bright spot was that they weren't in every room. We were able to avoid the basement completely, all bathrooms and the kitchen. This left the bedrooms, hallways and living/dining room. Not a small task, but doable.
For those DIYer's out there, here's how you remove popcorn ceilings:
Starting point: Popcorn ceilings. The walls in this room are pretty white. You can see how the popcorn has been discolored over the decades. Can you imagine if a smoker lived here before us? EW!
Step 1: Wet popcorn. This seems easy, but it can be quite difficult. After doing a couple bedrooms like this, my dad's arm and hands gave out. Squeezing those little bottles that much is too difficult. The next night we switched to a gallon pump sprayer and it was A LOT easier.
Step 2: Scrape popcorn off. There are funny looking tools you can buy to accomplish this. They work, but can be burdensome. The easiest, cheapest way to do it? A putty knife (used for sheetrocking) will do just fine.
Step 3: Clean up. This is a MESSY process. Seriously, it gets everywhere! Very similar to putting up sheetrock, actually. My dad and I would clean as Joe scraped.
Step 3: Put up new texture. In our case, we splattered the ceilings. Let splatter dry overnight and you're ready to paint!
Joe and dad did all three bedrooms, two hallways and the living/dining room in two nights (after Joe got home from work). The second night the three of us were at the house until after midnight finishing up the splattering. It is an INTENSE process. But it's a relatively cheap process...just a few tools, some joint compound, and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. We are VERY happy with the results, and definitely feel the work was worth it.
4 comments:
You all have done a BEAUTIFUL job! Wow, I'm impressed:) I think you have moved mountains! I can't wait to see your house and YOU, of course!! Love, Katie
Impressive!
I hate popcorn ceilings too, but... wow! What a lot of work!
So, how does one splatter? I see Joe with a sprayer of some kind - looks kind of like an overgrown HVLP sprayer... is that the tool? Is that an electric cord attached to it or an air line?
I'll bet everybody has a stiff neck after this job!
bob
We have popcorn ceilings and they don't bother me, but that's because I have a wonderful painter for a husband who painted them a wonderful white white color before we moved it. No yuck yellow color and no glitter! Seriously who thought of that one! You guys need a vacation after all this hard work you've done!
Bob - I'm not sure what the technical name is, but we all call it a splatter gun. It's hooked up to an air compressor and the bucket on the top holds watered down joint compound. There are different sizes of nozzles you can put on it to make all styles of splatter. Pretty simple, but very effective. I believe it's what professionals use. ...and yes, Joe was sore after this.
Lyndsay - Thought about painting them, but it makes it REALLY difficult to take them down after. So we just decided to do the whole thing in one shot. And half the house didn't have them already, so it'd look weird.
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