Friday, March 15, 2013

Removing Popcorn Ceiling

We have taken a challenge of finally remodeling the interior of our house. Last year we did exterior redo, and went from 80's shutters to rustic cedar re-do with cedar posts, shutters, etc. It made a world of difference to the out side of our house. I will make a separate post about that. Anyway, this year we have taken on a few projects inside, and Oh my, does it make a difference.
(the before)
  First project was removing popcorn ceiling. This is not a job for anyone wanting a quick, one day DIY project. This took us about a week to actually complete. We removed popcorn, then had to sand ceiling with a body-shop DA from my husband's job. Then float cracks in sheetrock that we found, where old tapelines had separated. Then painting the ceiling, and trim. I will post some pics and steps of project.

This was the hall, which scraped pretty easily.
To scrape off a popcorn ceiling, you have a few options, and I tried more than one.
You can do like the DIY shows and use a spray bottle, wait a few minutes and scrape in sections.
OR
 You can use the water hose sprayer on mist. Warning!!!! This is messy.
We were also replacing our carpet, so this was an option for us. We pulled up carpet to the concrete, and brought in water hose with sprayer set on mist. We moved around room, spraying, then scraping with a drywall knife. This worked the best. However our sprayer broke, after we finished living room and hall. A garden sprayer is the next best bet. A spray bottle, just took way to much work for me.

 This is an example of our mess. Our ceiling had been painted over. So, it was more difficult to remove. You know those videos,  that show the people spraying with water, then scraping. It all comes off so easily, all the way to the bare sheetrock. Well, apparently those popcorn ceilings had not been painted over. After we scraped, we still had to sand, and that was when my husband brought in the D.A. auto-body sander from work. We took turns. This was the hardest part. Since we wanted a smooth ceiling, not textured, we had to make it nice. Warning!!! If you sand, it is a huge mess! Dust everywhere. I replaced the filter in our A/C, and it took a few days to get all of the dust out of house. It kept settling.
 
Two coats of ceiling paint (primer already mixed in)
 and two coats of a high gloss enamel on trim/moulding, this was the results.
It was definately a hard job, but turned out so beautiful. It brought our ceiling out of the 80's, and it even feels higher. We have not conquered bedrooms and bathrooms yet. But, we did get living room, kitchen, and hall. Those bedrooms and bathrooms will have to be another day...lol.
 
 
TIPS:
 
1. If you are replacing floor, use waterhose with a mister setting. If you can't use waterhose, use a garden sprayer.
2. Be prepared for a big job.
3. Close off rooms with plastic, and turn of vents to the room you are working on to contain dust and mess.
4. Open windows, and place box fan facing outside if sanding is required.
5. Plan more than a weekend for this project. It may be that your popcorn is removed easier, but better safe than sorry. Our house was like a construction site for at least a week.
6. Use a paint with a primer already mixed in. This saved us a lot of extra work.
7. Invite friends and family over to help. This is not a 1 person job.
8. Enjoy :)
 

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