Scraping the popcorn off the celing...

mattsbride2006

How do you go about doing this? We are buying a home that still has it up and it looks tacky and we think we should get it done before we move in. We don't have to hire anyone right? It seems pretty easy but a lot of work.

irlndsumer

My MIL and BIL have been doing her house room by room.  It's way easier if you do it before you move anything in because it makes a huge mess.  You basically just wet it down, scrape it off, and retexture the ceiling.  Trust me, if they can do it, you can definately do it with no problem, LOL!

egs_sweetness

The only thing you have to worry about is if it's got asbestos in it. I think the houses built pre 1973 or something have it. If it has asbestos you have to hire someone, other wise you can do it yourself if you don't mind the messy work.

DH and I are going to hire ours done. My SIL knows someone who will do it for $100/room. That's worth it to us!

vanillacourage

I've done it before - ditto PP that it makes a mess so if you can do it (or even a few rooms and put all your furniture there until you're done) before you move in, then great.

We went to Home Depot and got this and some plastic (important! not metal!) putty knives with wide bases.  You spray the water on the ceiling, let it soak in for a minute, and then gently scrape off the popcorn. It's important to use plastic knives b/c if you use metal it will gouge up your ceiling.

FYI if you're pregnant I would try not to be around when it's being done.  Better safe than sorry.

crysbena

We did it room by room in our old house and DH bought some kind of attachment to go on our huge outdoor vaccuum.  As he scraped it all got sucked up into the vaccuum and made little mess.