Contractors,Painters Question?
Question:I am buying first home and i am going to paint inerior, i am a girl and have never done this before, but i am wanting to remove all of the popcorn ceiling before i paint, is it physically hard, can i do it myself or i am i better off hiring someone? any pointers
Answers:
It is extremely labourous and hard..lifting and mixing buckets of drywall mud 70 pounds all day, working over head..covering everything..it is as nasty as it is hard..then you have to texture everything, afterwards,,usually they dont tape and bed the ceiling properly,unlike the old days, when they blow popcorn beacuase it hides alot..you will either have to do some sort of texture,or refloat most of the ceiling..this one you need to leave to the pros.You will eventually have to call them to do this, and usully more money if thye have to fix something you attempted to do but couldn't, and I don't mean this out of meaness at all..but seriousness with all due respect.
Depending upon the age of the house, the popcorn ceiling may contain asbestos which would complicate the removal process. Other than that, it is a lot of work. You will need to dampen the ceiling, let it soak a bit and scrape it off. Once most of it is off, you will have a rather rough surface, so you will need to skim coat with drywall topping compound. I would not choose this as a first time project. Cost to hire a professional should not be overwhelming if the material is asbestos free, quite a bit more if it does contain asbestos.
removing the pop corn ceiling is not very hard , but kekp in mind that you will have to retexture your ceiling when you are done peeling it.
the way to remove that pop corn is to you a little mist of water wet it down a little bit and then scrape it with a putty knife it's very easy...but messy If I were you I would wet down little section at the time
taking popcorn off the ceiling is time consuming. U need to spray the ceiling then scrap it off & trust me.. u'll get very messy. U have to make sure it's all smooth when u'r done & patch up any nicks u made or uneveness... so if u have the patience & time.. u can do it... if u have the $... hire someone.
As far as painting. make sure u lay a good cloth down blue taped to either the molding or the floor( if u'r painting the molding the same as the walls.) If u'r doing the ceiling... i would wait til u'r done w/ the walls then u don't have to worry about getting paint on the ceiling. IF not... u'll need to blue tape the ceiling from the walls.
U need a good 2" angle brush/latex paint of u'r choice.. i would go w/ satan except for molding.. semi-gloss or gloss., 1/2" thick roller & pan.. lots of rags that u can wet down incasee of oops or u'r hands.. etc... ladder.. or small ladder... & patience.
some ppl. paint the edging lst some the wall ..it's u'r own preference.
have fun~
Screw Asbestos, It is easy to scrap the popcorn. The problem is you need to spray the ceiling with water, which will cause your drywall tape in the corners to lose their adhesion,if this happens you may have to but out loose pieces and re-mud certain sections of your ceiling where they met the walls, which is time consuming for the pros. Once the popcorn is off you need to let it dry, then possibly sand. You will need to prim it since you will be exposing raw drywall, then you should put on two coats of descent paint.
If the popcorn ceiling has been sealed (painted) then it is much harder to get off. You can test a small area by spraying water on the popcorn and see if it absorbs the water. If it does the popcorn should come off easily. Then you can put water in a pump garden sprayer and wet the ceiling allowing it to soak in. Then take a flat taping knife 6" to 12", and place it flat against the ceiling running the knife under the popcorn. It should fall away easily. If it has been sealed it becomes much harder. Scrape with a pull type paint scraper is one way. Either way be sure to put down plastic drop cloths to catch the mess. After you have removed the popcorn the ceiling will most likely need a new texture. This can be done with regular sheetrock mud and a texture roller. Then prime with pva primer and paint. Painting is not difficult. Popcorn ceiling removal is.
you will have an asbesose issue with the waste.
this is a terribly messy job and requires cleaning you would not believe, not to mention the styrofoam bits adhereing to your clothe and in your car for months after you finish...
bite the bullet and hire it done by a professional, let them deal with the mess and trash in their clothes and car.
scraping off that popcorn is gonna leave one ugly ceiling,weather you do or no. its going to leave craters every where. use a texture roller to change the apperance. a contractor will wanna re-texture that ceiling
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