It's not hard to remove, assuming it's never been painted. Just takes a large flat edged putty knife to scrape it off. Messy job. If it's been painted previously, that's a whole other issue. Once it's down, it might need a coat of mud on the joints to make sure everything is perfectly smooth before you prime and paint.

I noticed Lowe's or Home Depot one have a tool that is a scraper and has bag attached that is supposed to catch most of the scraped debris. Has anyone tried it?

Thank you for your comment and this may seem like a stupid question but, how can I tell if it has been painted? Its all white and if you run your hand along it, the popcorn easily falls off.

Miss Cindy- I have seen that product also. It looks like it would help but from what I hear, the job will be messy either way. Some people have said, you practically have to tape or cover everything! Walls, floors, etc

I did this for a client not too long ago; you must completely clear the room of all furnishing and cover the floor (Waterproof).
You will need a large pump action sprayer (You can pick one up at Home depot) and a wide blade paint scraper. Completely saturate a 3 to 4 foot area. Then gently, without digging into the drywall, about a 15 degree angle should do it, scrape the popcorn away. Try a small area, remember you are using water in a sprayer and you will have wet popcorn dropping on the floor and walls (you will need a damp rag to wipe any that hits the wall or trim if you have any) It will take a couple of attempts before you get used to it, then it's pretty much a breeze all be it messy. GOOD LUCK!

T&D thank you so much for the details! Sounds easy with the right prep but I'm afraid of doing a larger area such as a Living Room. Cindy- I feel the same way but this time, I'm the one tackling it!

Your welcome ! Good Luck !

@fromny2nc, if you can run your hand over it and it falls off, it's not been painted. @T&D, thanks for filling in the details.

It's also easy to tear the paper tape at the corners where it meets the walls, and as mentioned before, you will probably need another coat of joint compound at the joints and nail holes, which in itself is a job for the pro's unless you want to add sanding for days to the project.

when was the house built ? if built before 1981 it has asbestos and you can remove it youself theres strict guidlines to doing it you have to cover floor with 4 mil plastic with a foot left running up the walls you also have to drape the walls with plastic. you will need eye protection tyvek suit with a hood and shoe covers you will need to set up a area outside the room to take the suit off in order not to contaminate the rest of the home make sure to keep the texture wet all times wipe down the ceiling with wet rags when done you will need to dipose of it in black plastic bags and take it to a hazmat disposal site you have to place a sign on with your address if this to much to handle you will need to hire a company that does remediations of asbestos

No the house was built in 1994 Rockin. Norm- that sounds like a lot of aggravating work!

I've removed alot of popcorn ceilings and none of them were in "ready to paint" condition when the popcorn was removed.

then yes you will need to finish the sheetrock after removal are the walls textured?

no the walls are smooth. Just nervous I'm biting off more than I can chew here..

I doubt that you will get a professional look, but flat paint hides a multitude of sins. Your friends and relatives won't notice the "trouble spots", but you will.

hire a drywaller to finish it take in mind also that it is harder to paint with out leaving roll lines or thick lines if you paint it make sure you lay off the paint all in one direction

That's exactly how it is now. My visitors don't notice, missing textures, spots, here and there but I do and its so annoying. Just trying to eliminate costs by DIY. Don't mind the scraping but I'm so scared I will gouge drywall or something.

when you say lay off the paint in one direction do you mean roll one side from top to bottom then the next line from bottom to top? Do you think a primer would help with the paint lines?

You wlll need a PVA drywall primer regardless.

What I mean is roll it on normally and then roll the last pass all one way over lapping the last pass by 50%

One more tip, when you go to wipe the popcorn residue off the new putty knife be careful or you will be taking a long break from your work.

Thanks you!

The lighted electric sander with vacuum collector pictured here works great for popcorn removal!