If you have not yet moved in, I consider having it removed. If you are living there, if n budget, I'd dry wall over it. Be sure you aren't dealing with asbestos before starting

Moved in; new build- no asbestos

Well, my popcorn ceiling was painted over, so it couldn't be scraped off. Therefore it was covered... With mud (or whatever the white paste they put on drywall is). It was not a mess-free process, took several coats, but it was cleaner than scraping and less expensive than drywall. It had to be repainted after, but you'd have to repaint if you drywall anyway. Just thought to mention this option exists.

Ours was drywalled over. We have a 1972 house and asbestos is a real possibility.

It's better to remove it, installing drywall would be just as messy, and other coverings would likely look like cover-ups.

You could use pine boards and paint or stain. I've seen the pine boards simply white washed, and it was beautiful. It's not the simplest or least expensive fixes, but the money/time could be worth it. Just another option.

I have a 2500 sq. foot condo that I used to live in (and now rent out). I had the popcorn removed before I moved in. Have you moved in yet? If possible, I would try to remove it.

I don't find popcorn offensive enough to remove. My sister felt different and she removed the popcorn from out parents house after my mother died. Naked sheetrock is not all that attractive. The seams were all noticeable and the nails were all in a divot. I would not remove popcorn unless you have a plan to replace it.

Our painters removed all our popcorn ceilings before we moved in. Took them two messy days but the crew did a great job. The house had carpet which we were throwing out so all the mess of the ceiling landed on that. Rolled it up and out it went.

Painters can do a great job. Our house is 2,200 sq ft. Every ceiling had popcorn, closets, garage, laundry.

Jane

I have 3 photos over my bed and it never occurred to me that spiders or any other small monster would lurk there. Seriously?

I removed popcorn from a a 1990;s build with my ex FIL. It was a messy PIA but made the house 100 percent better. IMO it is equal work to have new drywall done. Am I missing something? Pay to have it removed and then repainted would be my suggestion.

Those with older homes and popcorn..removing it and painting over is not the whole job. As stated by enmarene there will be nails and seams that need to be mudded and hidden. Textured ceilings were invented because it is a very skilled mudding job to get a ceiling PERFECT. In my world bathroom ceilings have NEVER been textured. Our newest home and it everywhere..yes even in closets. When we re-did the bathroom we had the texture removed and re-mudded. It was not a "do it yourself" job as all the rest of it was for DH. I feel to wholesale give the impression that textured ceilings are horrific is to ignore that some "popcorn" is not a thick,large, dust collecting as others. Mine are very lightly textured. I don't have a problem with them AT ALL. I have seen thickly popcorned ceilings and they make me aware where the term came from...old and dirty they are quite scary. I could see how spider nests would grow there. Lightly textured, sand paperish..really not so bad and it would be half or less the cost than getting someone to mud a ceiling..and good luck with the quality of the job. We have nail heads popping in the bathroom and we were told, by many, the guy we paid was the best around. My guess is this is why some people just use bead board etc. to cover them up..no seams..no mudding..no pop corn..and much easier. To re-rock seems crazy. It is a MESS but it is not difficult to scrape off ceiling texture If you get enough water on them it will fall right off. Once painted--well seems like once you get a start it would not be horrid.

Funny, I had three different professionals telling me that the painted popcorn ceiling could not be scraped (or maybe they didn't want to do the job). They suggested either taking it down or drywalling over. It was old large popcorn, warped in spots from water damage. But I found these guys that mudded it over for the cost of scraping and it looks beautiful.

I'd like to remove it because it's ugly and cheap looking, ok?

OK.. Remove it. Should be easy since it's newly installed. The removal process will be messy but better all at one shot than dealing with the constant shed of that type of ceiling.

Any idea what it might look like underneath? Given how despised popcorn ceilings are --- at least where I live --- what are they trying to literally hide?

Where I live, most non-custom walls and ceilings have knockdown texture. It's okay, I'm used to it, and it's not as bad as popcorn. I've always assumed knockdown is used as it's a more forgiving surface and hides seams, nails, etc. better. Spray on, knock down. I would think popcorn didn't need the extra step of knocking down, so that's why it was used. I don't imagine there's worse under popcorn than my knockdown.

I don't understand what "knockdown" is

Carpenter gave us two prices. One for scraping the swirly/popcorn ceiling and the other for putting light weight thin sheetrock directly over existing. He said new sheetrock was easier and less trouble if he used large sheets so therefore the price for new ceiling was much cheaper and had better looking results. Ask around - can't hurt.

I looked up "knockdown" texture. All of my walls and ceilings (that' aren't popcorned) are textured -- is that the same?

violetwest: This is knockdown texture somewhere in my house, can't remember where. :)

okay, yes; that's similar to what I have all over. Certainly given the fact that every surface has texture I wouldn't want a smooth ceiling in one room.

Depending on the ceiling situation I've done these different approaches: bead-board; 1/4 inch drywall over; scrape popcorn and skim coat. If the texture hasn't been painted then my first choice would be scrape and skim coat, or just mud over if possible, and then paint.

Paneled ceilings if done with single slat or high quality tongue and groove bead-board can look great in the right home, but it's not inexpensive and will additionally need to be trimmed out at the edges and painted, be aware that if done with an inexpensive bead-board, the seams can show.

Though easier for the installer, if you are living in the space, new drywall means rocking, taping, mudding, sanding, priming, painting and along the way for you- drywall and mud dust everywhere and recirculating through your HVAC!

Knockdown is an easy finish - it's the step that wasn't taken when they shot the popcorn. I just had a kitchen ceiling re-skimmed with a knockdown texture for $660.

I just did this over the weekend! My 1981 house still has it in a few areas, so I decided to tackle the smallest room first. My laundry room is 80 sq ft, so that seemed like a good spot to experiment.

The popcorn had been painted over at least once, but was really not difficult to remove. I used a 6" putty knife to knock a few of the peaks down (close your eyes or wear goggle!), then a squirt bottle filled with water and a bit of dish soap to wet an area. Knocking off the tops lets the water in through the paint, then it scrapes right off with the same putty knife. It drops to the floor, so make sure it's covered if carpeted. My floor was tile, so I just swept and mopped when done.

Luckily, my ceiling was taped and mudded beneath the popcorn, so a light sanding and some texture from a spray can was all that was needed to make it match the walls. That small room only took me a couple of hours. I was done before SO made it back from HD with the texture :)

could you post a pic errant?

Here you go!

Our ceiling has some kind of texture, but it looks more like skip-troweled stucco. When I look up there, I see all kinds of pictures. Kinda fun imagining things, like seeing sheep in the clouds.

Funny, Suzi, you can envision an escape in whatever room you're in.

I think it's preferred to have drywall under beadboard anyway for sound insulation and fire rating, so if that look appeals to you and goes with the style of your home could be a good option. Mind you, I have read that it is equally if not more expensive to put wood on the ceiling as it is to put it on the floor, so it may not be a super economical choice. I have pointy texture on one ceiling and swirly on the next. I like the swirls and try not to think about the pointyness.

thank you, Errant. Am contemplating "swirly" and "pointy"

Have you ever been in a room with those super jagged stalactite ceilings? I always feel like one is going to detach and stab me in the eyeball.

And I thought we were the only ones that considered covering up popcorn
instead of removing it. We thought about covering it with wood for a
stained wood ceiling in the bathroom or sheetrock and a very light
sprayed on texture. Instead my brother sprayed with warm water, waited
10 minutes and did it again. It was the cleanest popcorn removal I've
ever seen. It was a just a 5x7 bathroom tho. I think covering it up
would have been messier.

violetwest what did you end up doing with your popcorn ceiling? I have them in our new house and loathe them. The PO smoked and did a lot of frying without a range hood, so above the stove is nasty and the entire ceiling is dingy.

I'm interested in the Armstrong tiles in the above video, has anyone used them?

We used the Armstrong tile system to cover a peeling whitewashed ceiling in an old farmhouse. My husband's a carpenter so we did it ourselves and it was pretty simple and straightforward. We plan to use it in some other rooms as well.

Several,years ago we looked into removing the popcorn ceilings in kit, din & liv rms. Messy! The cost to cover with 1/4 inch drywall & finish wasn't wasn't much more. Less mess.

Thanks Skywatcher and eandhl2! Skywatcher, what tiles did you select? I'm thinking about planks, which I think would work in my sort-of contemporary style house. I'd love to DIY, but the ceilings are quite high.

4boys2 - wow, great ceiling product...video was a surprise.

Mine came clean relatively easily and we didn't have nail pop issues but I can see how that could happen. I would be all for a tin ceiling as an easy solution