Popcorn ceilings
 

Never heard of them till we got to TV
Does any "painter" paint popcorn ceilings or is that a specialty?
If I were to hire a contractor would they just include the ceilings as a regular price or are they more expensive to paint than regular ceilings.
I am not sure if it would be more cost effective in the long run to have the ceilings knocked down then to incur additional costs everytime the ceiling needed to be painted. Any input would be helpful...Laura:undecided:

It is a huge mess to remove the popcorn but not too hard to do. Spray water on them and scrape them off.

I haven't done it but I was just passing along the advice from the paint guru at Lowes.

It is very possible that you would have to have it skim coated after removing popcorn because the wet surface is easily nicked by the removal implements. We have popcorn only in the basement and we are hesitating taking it off because fixing nicks in drywall is VERY difficult, time consuming and expensive to hire done. We are going to try it in the bathroom down there first. If you hear someone cussing up Ohio way, it is me.

From what we have seen here in Southern California
 

Popcorn ceilings are spray painted and that lasts about 10 years.:yuck: Should have scrapped them when we moved in 99!

Thank you one and all for your input. Dont know if I would attemt to scrape the popcorn off high cathedral ceilings in such a large area..Sounds alot like WORK..
As for Investment Painters, I am hearing many good things about them.
I will contact them before my next trip to TV and see if I can get a quote. Laura

I have a Gardenia and last year I took on the huge job of getting rid of All popcorn in the house and garage. The wife did not like it and since we will be spending the rest of our life in this house , I had to agree.

It is realitively easy to scrape off. I purchased a lot of plastic sheeting at Lowes and used a garden sprayer (the type you add water to and then pump it up ) with water and a little soap and thouroghly sprayed the popcorn about 3 to 4 times. I bought a Gorilla ladder which converts to two ladders that I could put 2X6s between for scaffolding.

Once wet the popcorn comes down very easily with a drywall mudding tool. I bought a large dust pan that I held under the drywall blade as I scrapped it off and was able to get about 80% of it before it hit the ground.

Then you have to use drywall compound and finish the joints. This is one reason that they used to use popcorn, the drywall finishers do not have to finish it that well . The popcorn hides the joints. The worst part of the job is sanding the joints after you apply compound to smooth everything out. Because of this step I would recommend trying to find a contractor to do it. It is really a mess. I taped off each room with the huge plastic sheets so all the drywall dust stayed in that room.


I would highly recommend that anyone interested have this done. It is amazing how much taller your ceilings look after you remove the popcorn. I had the living room done but not the kitchen yet and you could really see the difference the removal makes. Now when I walk into a home , the ceiling is the first thing I notice. I cant stand the popcorn anymore.

There is a huge amount of info on the internet about the removal. That is where I got most of my info.

One word of caution, if you decide to paint your popcorn it may be harder to remove down the road. The popcorn is NOT painted by your builder. Hence it is very easy to soak with water now. However on one of the videos I watched the people were able to get the water behind the paint and the popcorn did come off in huge chunks.

It took me and average of 4 days per room. One day to scrape(5 hours )one day to apply drywall compound( 3 hours ), one day to sand( 2 to 4 hours ), and one day to paint.

jeffy

Painting Popcorn ceilings
 

I work for Xcel Construction we do allot of additions in the villages with great references. Scooter paints, paints our popcorn ceilings in our additions all the time with no problem, if I was you I would give them a call. if you have any more questions about construction feel free to send an email or I will respond to any post Thanks. Xcelconstructioninc@embarqmail.com

My daughter just removed the popcorn at her place in California. Like Jeffy said - the worst part is discovering what is under that popcorn and the work needed to do seal the joints, level it out, etc. I was just out to visit my daughter and have to admit I really like the job they did - never cared for popcorn ceilings. (Once I painted one - years ago - and as I recall the ceiling really absorbed a lot of paint. That's probably why I don't paint anymore!)

We removed our popcorn ceiling. It was quite easy. We used a spray bottle of water and a paint scraper. However be aware that no matter how easy it is you may find the surprise once you remove it. We did. There were some cracks in the ceiling but were able to fix them with little effort.

Good luck

Yoda

popcorn ceiling
 

The solution to scrape these huge ceiling maybe a little ABITIOUS for me ..but hats off and kudos to all of you who have done it.
The information especially that once you paint over it ..makes it harder to remove..gives alot of food for thought..
I think I may try to get some prices on the removal..and resealing all the drywall..then get some estimates on painting them..make a comparison ..then decide what to do..
HATE POPCORN !!!! Unless its got butter on it...Laura

Maybe I am lazy but after reading the effort to remove. They are not a big deal to me.
I am sure with my lack of talent. If the wife wants them removed. It will have to be contracted out.