What's the best way to remove "popcorn" Ceilings?
Question:Getting ready to close on a 35 year old home with that "popcorn" acoustical stuff on the ceiling. Want to save some money and do it myself. Any suggestions?
Answers:
A lot of good answers. For the misting, use a tank sprayer like the ones you get at a garden center, don't use a hose or a spray bottle. For scraping, there is a wide blade with an aluminum handle used for drywall "knockdown" that is great for scraping the popcorn. A putty knife will take a long time if you are doing the whole house.
We removed ours by misting it with warm water and letting it set a few seconds and scraped it off with ease with a wide blade putty knife, it makes a mess so have floors and everything covered well...patch and retape any areas that need it and prime and paint...good luck...
wet it then scrape it off; also it might contain asbestos so take the right safety precautions and ware proper protective equipment when doing this.
If it is really coarse, use a spray bottle to wet it down (to decrease dust and , hopefully, soften the material) and put down drop cloths. Get a stiff scraper and remove. When you get it fairly even, repaint with ceiling flat.
Hope this helps.
This is messy. Spray the 'texture with water, small area's at a time. Let the water soak in, then scrape off the 'popcorn 'with a putty knife. Eyeglasses and a hat are a must ! Also cover the floor so you can pick up the acoustical material easy, or you might track it through the home. Be careful not to dig into the sheetrock, you want to remove the stuff that was sprayed on.
You've had good answers, and I agree with the "dampen and scrape" approach.
It's true that if it is an older home, the "popcorn" material may contain asbestos.
Asbestos, all by itself, undisturbed, is no hazard to anyone. "Friable" (airborne particles) of asbestos, when inhaled over long periods, may cuase "asbetstosis", a lung disease that is often fatal.
But, unless you have worked as a lagger (wrapping pipes in asbestos in th old days) for 30 years, or you were a miner, the minimal exposure from scraping a cieling will not harm you!
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