Replies

1. 
   Mark_McDonnell | Jan 24, 2001 05:54am | #1

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   Anyway you can improve on it? Additional texture, finish? If not, knock it down with a stiff scraper, seal it with shellac and skim coat. Better yet, if you have the money, rock it.

1. 
   David_Taylor | Jan 24, 2001 07:02am | #2

   *Frank,Remember to calculate the time involved in this endeavor when comparing costs. If uninsulated or insulated with batts a quick gutting and drywall job could do the trick. you can get drywall hung and mudded for aprox. $0.40/sq. ft plus materials. Even mudding the joints yourself sounds like less work. Best I could come up with but stripping and scraping above your head just sounds like a bummer.David

1. 
   Don_Hamel | Jan 25, 2001 12:51am | #3

   *Read somewhere that Porter-Cable's Power Paint Remover worked well at removing texturing. $200 at Toolcrib.

1. 
   Eric_M._Borgman | Jan 25, 2001 03:40am | #4

   *I recently spent about four of my precious free weekends dealing with this very task. Here's the dope;Start by pulling down some rough-sawn cedar box-beams. Dipsh*ts had textured up against them too! Now I've got channels running across my living room ceiling. Go out to the garage, get a good dust mask and a square point shovel and start srcaping. This took care of the heavy stuff.Next weekend; Call rental yards looking for the PC Drywall Sander/Vac combo. Found one; SCORE. They only had discs down to 100 grit. Good for drywall, not agressive enough for painted texture. Grind away with the 100 grits, shoulders burning, still 25 pounds overweight at the end of the day.Next weekend; BRAINSTORM. Get the Bosch VS random-orbit out of the garage, cobble a connection to the little shop vac, slap on some 40 grit discs and start grinding. Stuff comes off like magic. Just keep moving and don't push to hard. Only touble is after five minutes I can't see across the room. Filter media is too coarse, even with the paper filter over the foam. Run out to Sears, buy the 6.25 HP, 16 gal on sale. Pick up the $25 super-filter, run home and put the rig to the test. This vacs got so much suction, you hardly have to hold it up against the ceiling. (Well almost). Shoulders are numb at this point. Finally, this rig really works!Next weekend; Ceiling still isn't smooth enough to paint without retexturing. (I know, I know). Go buy sand texture and roll it out thin. Looks good --- sort of.Next time; Knock off the high spots, 3/8" drywall over top. Tape and paint.Still 25 pound overweigh but my shoulders look marvelous. Have fun with your project.Eric

1. 
   WDSM | Jan 25, 2001 01:24pm | #5

   *Last year I gutted a 3,000 sq ft house but left the ceilings. House was built in 79. Worked hours trying to scrape off the glittered, course ceiling texture. Was about 3/4 done when a friend stopped by and said to just spray it with warm water. the stuff almost fell off by its self. went back and re-did the whole house. When it was dry the drywall looked like brand new just finished dry wall. The ceiling had even been painted several times.

2. 
   Jeff_Clarke_ | Jan 25, 2001 03:02pm | #6

   *Eric - I have the same shop vac (Sears) - it will just about suck the gravel out from under a concrete slab.Jeff

3. 
   Theresa_Sittler | Jan 30, 2001 09:25pm | #7

   *Discovered the warm water trick for my 'popcorn' ceiling. Had a recipe which used downy, wallpaper remover, a dash of vinegar, and warm water. Made a little test batch which ran out way too fast. Since it loosened the texture so well, I figured I would save the hassle and try only the warm water. I used our 1-1/2 gallon garden pump sprayer, which delivered a lot of water to the area. By the time I had covered within an arm's reach, the stuff was as soft as, well, mud...We are only the 3rd owner, so I knew the ceilings hadn't been painted since it was first built (don't know if that was a factor in the ease of removal). Do be careful after you've scraped that glop off the ceiling; everything gets coated with it and becomes slippery.Theresa

4. 
   Ken_Moum | Jan 31, 2001 10:36pm | #8

   *I've been taking texture off the ceilings of my 30-year-old spec. raised ranch. I tried the water spray trick with minimal success. Switched to a 4-inch floor scraper with a short handle, and made a huge mess.I finally got smart, and taped (Duct tape, of course) the scraper to one of the extensions for mylittle 5-gallon shop vac. I used the "upholstery tool" on the extension and set it so that the mouth of the tool was just under the blade.I've scraped about 700 sq. feet of popcorn with that rig and the vac collected about 95 percent of it. I've gone through 8 of those drywall bags for the vac.The slowest part has been re-mudding the joints that were done 30 years ago by guys who knew they'd be covered by popcorn and skim coating the inevitable dings I made with the scraper.As of now everything I've scraped so far is painted, and my wife loves it.

2. 
   Frank_Navarro | Jan 31, 2001 10:36pm | #9

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   Need some advice on what to do with current texture on walls and ceiling.
   Previous owners of put a lot of work into creating this ugly spiral texture. In some places it stands proud at least 1/8 3/16 inch. I am thinking of trying some ix paint remover to get rid of the latex then scraping down the texture the skim coating. Any ideas would be appreciated.