Been there, done that, and OH was it WORTH it! It was very expensive (ours tested positive for asbestos) and had to be done professionaly but we never ever regretted it!

Enjoy your new ceilings!:)

YEAH...the person that invented that cr_p should be shot. It is just so wrong in so many ways. I had a house with it in every room except kitchen...couldn't have it removed (no money) but we did texture over the living room popcorn and it was 100% better.

This house was built in 1983 ... post-asbestos, fortunately. I did two rooms and it's backbreaking.

Yes, a couple of days of glop and that wet drywall mud smell was well worth it.

And here I came for a good popcorn thread!

:O)

And I was feeling feisty! (Congrats on the new ceiling! Those things are the pits.)

Good for you. I'm sure you love it now.

My mom just had her popcorn ceilings repainted, and her brand new sunroom ceiling textured in popcorn! I guess it was easier than removing it from the rest of the house LOL (built in early-mid 70's so probably asbestos).

Enjoy your smooth ceilings! I had to smooth out sanding marks and feather out seams in just the hallway (3x28) and the LR (13x17) and it's tiring working overhead, I can't imagine having to scrape first!

Good for you!!! I have spent thousands of dollars having popcorn removed. I still have it in the master bedroom and bath and my laundry room. I also have it in the basement. But...it's gone from the kitchen, family room dining room and two story hallway! The dust is a nightmare when they redo the ceilings but I LOVE it. So much cleaner!

Lucky you!

We have it in every room of our 1984 home. Ours was all painted except our upstairs hallway and painting it means no spray and it falls down, it means sanding it all off. After living here for the past 11 years and still not having the money to do anything about it, we finally caved and painted the hallway popcorn as well. It won't come down any time soon, so it may as well be as decent looking as it can be.

How nice---post pix when you are done???

Congratulations! You must sigh with relief and joy every time you look up. I currently have the 1970s popcorn. When we bought the house, the POs told us they had it tested and it contained no asbestos. Well, I had it tested and it does (1%) so it turns out they lied to us. So now I'm saving up to have it professionally removed. I would love to see pictures of what it looks like now. I'm assuming we'll have to do some sort of texture and I'd love to see what you selected.

our house built in the 60's DOES have a bit of a texture to ALL the walls and ceilings but I am not sure it qualifies as 'popcorn'. is there a certain size of the bumps that makes it popcorn over just a texture??
While I do not love the texture in our house, it is not really popping (pun intended) out like I think popcorn walls are, so therefore you just see a bit of a leathered look texture. Never thought about the fact it may have asbestes..

It is so hard to repair that texture and get it to match the original look. My humidifier caused the popcorn on the wall to crack and peel off and trying to patch it was impossible. And it still doesn't match the rest of the wall.

Pricklypear ... does 1% require abatement procedures? In Arizona, if it's at or under 1% as tested by a certain procedure, it's not considered "asbestos".

We have done the ceilings in the kitchen, dining room and living room. Next fall (after we have saved more money! LOL!) we'll have the rest of the house -- three bedrooms and two bathrooms done.

We MAY have to scrape the stuff off ourselves -- and then have the re-texturing done by a pro.

Jan at Rosemary Cottage (where the only popcorn we like is the stuff that you sprinkle with salt and butter)

I'm actually not certain what the asbestos laws are on that front. I assumed that any amount of asbestos required the owner to follow the laws with regard to asbestos removal. However, I do know that in Utah, the homeowner (and any volunteers) are allowed to remove asbestos ourselves as long as we follow the laws regarding disposal. I am more interested in paying a professional to do the abatement in order to protect my health and prevent the asbestos from getting into other parts of the home (carpet, etc).

I read ~somewhere~ an article that said screwing quarter inch over the top, taping and floating that out is easier than scraping and retexturizing the old surface.

I haven't had the need to use this method, but I thought I would throw it out there in case someone wants to consider it.

Congratulations!!!! Every room ceiling in my house is covered with the nasty stuff. We couldn't get rid of it when we moved in, but found a way to "hide" it in our bedroom. My husband used acoustic ceiling tiles he painted to cover it up. I'm not sure how well it will show in the picks, but it looks like painted tin tiles. SOOO much better than the cottage cheese-

Homebodymom, that looks great!!

I heard you can install sheetrock over it too, in lieu of removing it. Has anyone ever heard of doing this? Or what about laying wood on top of it to cover it up? (I'm sure neither option is cheap).

We did 1/4" as well, in our master bedroom, and for us it was easier. We have a double-height living room and entry, though...I'm still in denial about what it's going to take to do that stuff.

Saw an interesting tool at HD -- a little bag-carrier underneath a scraper (wider than the scraper) that is supposed to catch the popcorn as it falls. Might try it for the remaining parts of the house that are only 8' ceilings. Anyone tried that? Yes, it's a gimmick...

I used a wallpaper steamer to remove popcorn texture on the ceilings that had been painted over. I tried one ceiling the regular way before I found the steamer technique and it was a nightmare of sanding and gouging. The steamer worked great! There was barely any dust and the popcorn peeled away in big clean sheets. I just had to wear long sleeves to keep the hot water from dripping down my arm.

HomeBodyMom...your ceiling is beautiful! I'd love to do that in a couple of my rooms.

Can you tell me how your DH attached the accoustical tiles to the ceiling? Were they glued? Nailed?

He glued them to the ceiling and then painted them.

oopsie and davey--I'm certainly not an authority, but pretty sure that you don't have popcorn on your walls. It was strictly a popular ceiling application and seemed like tiny styrofoam balls mixed into the texturing process so it actually stuck out as much as 1/4" in the lumpy places (thus popcorn). When you touched it, you could actually cause loose "balls" of it to fall down onto the floor. Texturing on walls would not be anything like that consistency. Perhaps your walls have what is called "knockdown" in some form--but not popcorn, thankfully!

yes, I was figuring mine wasnt called popcorn. If I remember well popcorn walls almost injure you when you touch that stuff now that I think about it. No offense, but ICK! I really dont mind the texture we have although I'd rather have flat wall which they will be eventually anyway in MY house since I change my paint way too many times lol