Popcorn Zen

Well, I've finally discovered the answer to the thought that has plagued since we moved into our current house in 2003: "I wonder how hard it is to remove the popcorn from ceiling."

No, not Orville's kind from the kids throwing it too high while trying to get it into their mouths. The kind that some idiot somewhere thought, "Hmmmm......cottage cheese....on the ceiling....yeah, baby!"

OK. I know why builders do it. It's cheap and it hides shoddy workmanship, but why a home buyer would elect to have it is beyond me. How much extra was it to get some other texture? One to two thousand? Over a 30 year loan. C'mon!

I've done a lot of research trying to find a different way to remove it....different from what every site and professional was telling me (spray it down with water, not too much, and then scrape it off). After concluding there was no other way and concluding that my wife was going to continue to nag me to do something about the poor paint job (last loser to paint the room got it all over the ceiling...and, no, it wasn't me) in kid-number-four-on-the-way's nursery, I picked up a scraper and a spray bottle and geared up for battle.

OK, she was pushing for spot touch ups but I didn't think it would like right and this inquiring mind just had to know.

Here are some things I learned:

1. If you house was built before the 70s, get your popcorn checked for asbestos before you start removal.
2. Has your ceiling been painted? If not, good times. If it has, good luck.
3. Get a good, wide taping knife (yep, taping knife) and a spray bottle.
4. Get everything out of the room. Take down curtains. Take down blinds. Put a waterproof tarp on the floor. If you don't want to have to repaint your walls, cover from the ceiling down about 2 feet. Close off the room. Wear goggles and a mask. Dust gets everywhere.
5. Work on about a 3X3 area at a time. Spray it down. Wait about 2-3 minutes. Spray it again. Wait about 2-3 minutes. Try scraping. If it doesn't come off (down to the drywall) fairly easily, spay it one more time. Then scrape. You may have to periodically spray parts of it that are stubborn.
6. I used a spray bottle. I've read some articles that recommend using a garden sprayer, but I'd worry about getting it too wet as well as having a lot of water under foot (which mixed with scraped popcorn would make an even bigger mess).
7. Always scrape in the same direction as the tape. If you scrape perpendicular, you'll ruin the tape. Also, be careful not to get the tape too wet.
8. As you do more and more, you'll be able to scrape down to the drywall to the point that you won't have to do major sanding to get the ceiling nice and smooth.
9. Have two enthusiastic 6 year old boys who share your hatred of popcorn ceilings and want to climb up the ladder (and wear goggles and a mask) and do some scraping. (Practice saying in a calm, encouraging voice every few seconds, "Hold the scraper flat, buddy, you're tearing the drywall" prior to bringing them into the fray.)
10. When you are ready to apply your new texture, check out www.drywallschool.com. The majority of the information is free, but if you want to do some new texture on your ceiling you'll have to pay $10 to get the instructions. I did. It was worth it. I start the retexture (crows foot) this weekend.

One room down. Ahhhhh, non-popcorn ceiling bliss.

And as a walk through my house, the victorious popcorn-ceiling slayer, I look above me to the popcorn ceilings that remain and say ever so softly, "Your days are numbered."