Textured Ceilings

[4estgump]

Does anyone know of a machine or procedure to smooth a textured ceiling. I am so sick of painting these ceilings in my home. I use all the proper tools to do this, and when it dries i find many spots that need moer paint. Any and all HELP needed. Thank You 4est

[smorris]

I also hate our textured ceiling and would also welcome any ideas. I've considered using a scraper then mudding it flat. Seems like a lot of work.
Wife's suggestion was just pull it down and put up a new ceiling, since they never put in a moisture barrier when they built the house.

[JR]

It's a very common procedure hereabouts. And yes, you scrape it and retexture it. The main trick is, after scraping, to mud the nail holes properly. They may have been done incompletely, knowing that heavy coating was to be put on. After that it's a straightforward knock-down texture application.

I have done it and can tell you it's better left for experts. It's not complicated, but can be very messy. A good drywall guy who has cone it many times can do it fast and cheap.

JR

[chopnhack]

You have to be very cautious... sometimes depending on the age of the house some of those textured ceiling materials have asbestos in them! If you are getting spots, try priming first and use a long nap roller cover. The 3/8" used for walls will not get into all the nooks and crannies, it may be messy but the 1 1/4" nap will certainly cover the roughest ceilings. The priming should even out the porosity and cover any stains that may be leading to your spotting.

[steve-norrell]

When we had ours done, the contractor simply applied new dry wall (1/2 inch) over the old, texture and all. It came out quite nice and avoided all the problems with clean-up and possible exposure to hazardous components. Its been up about three years now and there is no sign of cracking.

We know folks who did the work themselves -- scrapping and mudding. No thanks. As suggested previously, its best left to a dry wall specialist.

Regards, Steve.

[frumper64]

We took the cottage cheese texture off our ceilings a few years ago and yes, it is messy. Fortunately, ours had never been painted, so just spraying a little water on them and then scraping did the trick. It gets a lot harder if they have been painted, since they won't then absorb the water to soften them up.

[pelligrini]

Be careful about going with no texture. A smooth wall, and especially a smooth ceiling can really show construction imperfections. A level 4 or higher finish should be sought. Level 5 if you're using gloss paints.

[TB Roye]

I have done it in a couple of rooms. The way we do it is remove everything. Cover the floor with plastic drop cloths. Cover the walls also. The we take a garden sprayer with water and spay the ceiling on section at a time and scrape off on the the covered floor. The water softens it and makes it easy to scrape. Just don't use to much and get the drywall real wet. Then we check the nail and tape job and repair as need. BIL has a gun to shoot the texture on then prime and paint as normal. When you are done pull the plastic off the walls and roll it and plastic drop cloths up and dispose of them correctly, in the neighbors trash can. My house was built in 82 so Asbestos is not an issue. Going to be doing the kitchen next when we remodel it. We do a room as we paint or redecorate it.

Tom

[herb fellows]

I've never done it, but assuming the paint is latex, I would think any kind of steam would do it (wallpaper steamer?).
I remember doing wallpaper near a ceiling and the paint seemed as if it really wanted to just slide off.

[Mildoc]

As chopknan said, be certain the texture is NOT asbestos. If it is, either cover it with a new ceiling, or hire the pros. There is no way for a homeowner to remove asbestos without contaminating the home.