My house was built in '70, and it has that horrible sprayed on texture stuff on the ceilings in the garage. It's falling off and becoming a real pain because it falls all over our stuff and makes a mess. I've removed it from a bathroom, and it involved spraying it with water and scraping it off. It was a real pain, and I couldn't see doing an entire garage this way. Does anyone have any quicker ways to get rid of it?
Removing a textured ceiling?
- Thread starter TAftw
- Start date
GreyOwl
Well-known member
Part of mine in my house was stuck so well all I had to do was scrape it with the vacuum cleaner with the floor attachment. Came right off. The problem areas were all the seams and the nail spots. They were the only areas that stuck. Did the water with a weed sprayer and then scraped with a wide trowel. Had to put down plastic first but still what a mess. Use a pair of shoes you won't mind throwing away when you are done. I felt like I was walking on stilts when I was done.
Charles
Charles
Romanova
Well-known member
Helped my parents do it awhile back... was a real mess. Water was the best way...
tcianci
Well-known member
All you need to do is attempt to paint it...it will fall right off! 
Kevin54
MEMBER EMERITUS
We have the same thing in out family room. It was textured by a so called expert, he ruined it, had to popcorn over it to hide it, but I am sick og it. The original would not scrape off because the ******* mixed paint in with it. So for what it is, I am going to replace the drywall. Far easier to do that than try to sand or scrape anything upside down. My drywall guy told me that I could put drywall ofer the top of what is there but I think I will strip off what is there and start fresh
bry@n
Well-known member
I would just tear it down and put new rock up. Less time, I'm sure.
car99r
Well-known member
Best thing I have found for this when remodeling older homes is the following:
1) 12 oz Beer
2) Wet it
3) 12 oz Beer
4) Scrape, Scrape, Scrape
5) 12 oz Beer
6) cursing
7) 12 oz Beer
8) Scrape, Scrape, Scrape
9) a lot more cursing
10) rip out the ceiling and replace drywall....
LOL
1) 12 oz Beer
2) Wet it
3) 12 oz Beer
4) Scrape, Scrape, Scrape
5) 12 oz Beer
6) cursing
7) 12 oz Beer
8) Scrape, Scrape, Scrape
9) a lot more cursing
10) rip out the ceiling and replace drywall....
LOL
z28snksknr
Well-known member
Even after scraping you'll have to do a thinset coating of compound to even the drywall out for painting. In my opinion, it's more work than just replacing the drywall, but if you didn't want to spend the money, get a mask, a bottle of Advil for your soon-to-be-sore neck, and have at it.
Just save up your patience for about a week so you are nice an calm and relaxed.
Just save up your patience for about a week so you are nice an calm and relaxed.
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buening
Well-known member
Would anyone see any problems in using a belt sander to knock some of the high points off and then fill in the voids with joint compound? May end up with just as much work this way though. Just thinking out loud!
Torque1st
MEMBER EMERITUS
Just knock off the majority and put up some 3/8" sheetrock over it. That way you don't have to mess with any insulation above the ceiling. The reason they used the texture is so they did not have to mud the ceiling as smooth as they do walls. The texture hides the imperfections. Watch out because some of that texture had asbestos in it.
Belt sanding will damage the paper covering on the rock which is hell to fix, but then so can scraping.
Belt sanding will damage the paper covering on the rock which is hell to fix, but then so can scraping.
Firetacoma
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2009
- Messages
- 65
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the asbestos potential yet.
This stuff was very often made of asbestos and should be tested before you do anything that may lead to particulates in the air!
This stuff was very often made of asbestos and should be tested before you do anything that may lead to particulates in the air!
It is most often just drywall mud.
It didn’t become the style until after the asbestos scare was already in full bloom, so there is not much danger there.
The problem with pulling down a ceiling in a house it that the ceiling is usually holding up the insulation in the attic.
The wet it and scrape it is the only way.
It is a good reason to get to know the local high school kids.
They usually work pretty hard for $10.00 / HR.
Talk to one of the team coaches.
They know the ones that will work and the one to stay away from.
It didn’t become the style until after the asbestos scare was already in full bloom, so there is not much danger there.
The problem with pulling down a ceiling in a house it that the ceiling is usually holding up the insulation in the attic.
The wet it and scrape it is the only way.
It is a good reason to get to know the local high school kids.
They usually work pretty hard for $10.00 / HR.
Talk to one of the team coaches.
They know the ones that will work and the one to stay away from.
Kevin54
MEMBER EMERITUS
The older "popcorn" ceilings had asbestos in them. The textured ceiling that has the stomped look is more than likely just drywall compound. The new "popcorn" ceilings have styrofoam pellets in the compound and shot through a hopper style of gun.
Depending on your style of ceiling and the thickness of texture, it may be able to be covered. The rest of our house is the "stomped" style. The roofing guys slammed bundle after bundle down on the roof and cracked the ceiling. My drywall guy told me that for $500, he will compound and restomp the ceiling to match the rest of the house. I imagine if I wanted that smooth that he could also do it like they do with a skim coat of plaster only using compound. It may be worth looking into instead of scraping.
1320stang
Well-known member
Nah, your wrong here, we had the stuff in our house that was built in '64 (popcorn ceiling) and it wasn't drywall mud, if you bounced a ball against it, some of the stuff would flutter to the ground. Asbestos scare came later. All the houses in my neighborhood had it, some even had glitter mixed in
The stuff comes off easy with a garden sprayer and a wide trowel IF it's never been painted over, but it is messy. Usually it leaves a knock down texture look to it and I've just painted over it and been done with it.
Indycars
Well-known member
I had the same problem with the texture falling off. I taped plastic sheets just below the ceiling and then draped it over my shelves. This only stopped the big stuff, the dust still made its way onto the shelves. But at least I could just blow it off with compressed air. Since this was a garage I didn't worry about the seams looking perfect, I just primed and painted after scrapping the popcorn texture off with a 4" scrapper. I did hold a pan under the scrapper to catch the big stuff. The garage is 20x20.
Good Luck!!!
Rick
Good Luck!!!
Rick
I'm not sure where some of you folks are getting your asbestos information from, but I have been a licensed inspector for over 22 years and all spray applied ceiling finishes are suspect to contain asbestos and must be sampled and analyzed to prove otherwise. When I say must, that means when a licensed inspector does an inspection. You can't go by a date, because asbestos has been around since the ancient Egyptian times. Oddly enough buildings from the 1950s and 1960s seem to have more than those for 1920s to 1930s because all the companies that were selling asbestos products, were trying to sell all they could before it was banned. That's why they got sued so much.
Also, the joint compound, tape and drywall must be sampled.
Also, the joint compound, tape and drywall must be sampled.
tcianci
Well-known member
Given the threat of letting asbestos dust into the air, and the mess that results form any type of ceiling demo, you maybe better off leaving the ceiling just like it is and drywalling over it with 1/2 inch board and use a real drywall screw gun that will set the screw heads correctly even if the board is only bridging on the high spots of the previous job. Tape and finish, declare victory and go home proud.
rsanter
Well-known member
a while back I used one of those pole sanders like is used for finishing drywall seams.
I used the drywall sanding screen with it and it knocked it down really quick.
actually left behind a somewhat textured look that was easy to blow tecture right over
bob
I used the drywall sanding screen with it and it knocked it down really quick.
actually left behind a somewhat textured look that was easy to blow tecture right over
bob
Torque1st
MEMBER EMERITUS
Look at the post I made ~1.5 hours before you and right above yours.
Torque1st
MEMBER EMERITUS
One thing to try is using one of these:
http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMPXNO=4547267&PMT4NO=0
With a 6" drywall knife zip-tied to the underside of it to vacuum the **** off the ceiling while scraping. It would not catch all of it but you may be surprised at how much it does catch.
http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMPXNO=4547267&PMT4NO=0
With a 6" drywall knife zip-tied to the underside of it to vacuum the **** off the ceiling while scraping. It would not catch all of it but you may be surprised at how much it does catch.
Firetacoma
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2009
- Messages
- 65
Look at the post I made ~1.5 hours before you and right above yours.
I guess it goes without saying that reading comprehension isn't my strong point!
Torque1st
MEMBER EMERITUS
I guess it goes without saying that reading comprehension isn't my strong point!
Mine either!
car99r
Well-known member
Even if it contains asbestos check your local and state laws. I can tell you from experience that here in IL as long as the place is single family residential and is your place of residence you can remove and dispose of it. We recently had a furnace room wrapped in asbestos. Got scared, called out inspectors and local asbestos specialist for removal. They informed us it was asbestos but we could dispose of it right in our local landfill dumpster we had. Still charged me $400.00 just for coming out and testing though...lol
ixlr8
Well-known member
The ceilings in my living room, dining room, kitchen and upstairs bathroom all have a texture to them. LR and DR have vaulted ceilings up 15ft. I tried to scrape the texture off the bathroom ceiling... no can do, wetting, scrapping, sanding, nothing touches it. A contractor friend looked at it, said it was standard practice in our area in the early 80's, when my house, was built to use a mortar like material to do the texture. So basically I have concrete on my ceiling and I need to either mud over the texture.. not sure how well it will stick, rip down existing drywall and replace (which would give me a chance to properly insulate attic area) or cover it over with new drywall.
Either way... too much work!!
Either way... too much work!!
I don't think it has asbestos, isn't it just some spray-on textured ****? I'll check for good measure, but I wouldn't think it would have it.....
I don't have the money or the time to put up new sheetrock, so it looks like scraping is the only way to go. Half of it is already peeling away from the wall, and it doesn't look like getting the majority of it would be difficult. The powerwasher is looking very tempting though.
I don't have the money or the time to put up new sheetrock, so it looks like scraping is the only way to go. Half of it is already peeling away from the wall, and it doesn't look like getting the majority of it would be difficult. The powerwasher is looking very tempting though
.kenfath
Well-known member
See how much a pro would charge to remove it. We had ~500 sq/ft removed for $750. It was money well spent. First day they spent about three hours wetted and scrapped the popcorn, fixed the tape, gouges, etc and applied the texture using what I think is joint compund and cleaned up sufficiently so we could use the areas. Next day they sprayed the ceiling with two coats of an alcohol based sealer and one coat of finish paint. In two hours they were done and that included a decent cleanup. We're very well pleased with the job they did!
I did this in a bedroom before a remodel in my previous house once. I ran into real problems for a few reasons...
- The belt sander starts to get heavy fast when used overhead.
- It's tough to sand it down evenly for the entire area.
- It creates a huge amount of dust.
I ended up filling & sanding all over again.
I am no pro, but it was a real pain for me. I ended up priming & painting the mess. Strangely enough, it ended up looking ok with the random texture when I was done. It was definitely not my goal, but the realtor liked the look when we sold the home.
It was a huge pain with poor results, at least for me.
little d
Well-known member
i just got done doing this for my mother in law. no good way to do it! heres what i did. started off with a 6" scraper, got all of the big stuff with that. then went with a hand sander(the kind that hooks to a shop vac) and 100 grit cheese cloth sanding paper. had some cracks to fix, taped and filled, start with a 6" knife, put down a bed over the fiberglass tape, as smooth as possible,you may have to sand this if its not smooth. then after that dries, use a 12" knife, after that dries, use the 12" knife, but put the edge of the knife on the center of the tape so you end up with 24". then skimmed the entire ceiling. skimmed it twice more, the last(finish) coat has to be perfect, use new mud, any contamination in it and it will show! light sanding again, and prime. the paint you use will make all the difference in the world, gloss will show every in perfection! semi, not so bad, flat and you will look like you have done this all of your life. i ended up with about 4 days in this project, like i said, no good way of doing it, just gotta man up and do it. oh ya, asbestos or not, get ya a good mask! good luck, and if ya got any questions please feel free to pm me, little d.
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jcp907
Well-known member
I removed the popcorn in our 1970s home (over 1,000 sq feet worth) and it wasn't difficult at all. It was messy. I used the garden hose and sprayed it down well. Let it soak in a little by wetting 1/4 of the ceiling at a time, then use a 10 inch or so scraper. Give it a few minutes to saok before you start scraping. It won't be difficult if a lot of it is falling off on it's own already. I rented a dehumidifier to dry everything out afterwards. Keep the garage door open with a fan on it should work fine. Don't over wet it, because that could cause bigger issues...powerwasher might cause damage, but if you are putting up knockdown afterwards, it might not matter much. The water keeps the dust down as well.