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Popcorn ceilings
DH and I found a beautiful house that we are hoping to purchase soon. The probem? All 2000 sq feet of ceiling are popcorn! And we hate it! We are weighing our options:
1. Un-popcorn the whole house. Not sure if we could afford to pay someone else to do this (DH said he saw somewhere that it is $1500/500 sq ft), but we are also unsure of how difficult this would be to DIY. Plus, the living room ceiling is 20 ft high, so, it could be dangerous w/o a sturdy ladder...
2. Plank the ceilings throughout. This will just cover up the popcorn, which DH thinks is "cheesy" and doesn't like. I think they will make the house a lot nicer, and if we choose thick enough boards, we will have the option of adding recessed lighting. DH also doesn't like the idea of having two ceilings, in case there is a leak somewhere.. the water will sit in between the two and mold and we might not know about it until we smell it or get sick. DH said you can't plank a vaulted ceiling? Is that true?
3. This is the thing that we will most likely do. Plank the nicer/more visible rooms (kitchen, living room, dining room, guest bath and guest room). Then un-popcorn the other bedrooms and bathrooms. It's a win-win for us, I guess.
Have you ever un-popcorned a ceiling by yourself? Have you ever planked a ceiling? Was it very difficult? We know it is going to be tough work, so we are trying to weigh all of our options before we start that venture... TIA
Re: Popcorn ceilings
I do not understand the dislike for popcorn ceilings, but it's your house.
Yes, you can DIY it so long as the house is a newer build (they used asbestos for popcorn when it first debuted in the 60s or 70s - google). It is insanely messy and time-consuming.
I've never heard of putting up a false ceiling to conceal popcorn, but I think it's a bad idea. Live with the popcorn or scrape it off - don't add a layer.
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The Googlesites Paint Bio
Thinking of doing cosmetic updates to a dated home? These were our costs.
I'd either live with it or pay to have it removed. How old is the house? Sometimes you have to worry about asbestos being in the ceiling and thus making it it a little more of a concern to remove:
http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=13108036
I just got done scraping all 1920 square feet of our house. All the quotes we received were $2.00 a square foot to scrape and repair the ceilings. Defiantly do it before you move in if at all possible. It makes a HUGE mess.
I found working a 3 * 3 foot area best. I would saturate the ceiling with water from a small pressurized sprayer and then scrape. I used the tool found in the painting section for doing edging. It is about 12 inches long and seemed to get the most even scrape for me without tearing the paper backing of the actual drywall.
How much it takes to finish the drywall after depends on how well it was finished before the popcorn was applied For us the seams were perfect but the nail holes needed a coat of mud and sanding.
I have also seen people put very thin drywall on top of the existing ceiling and finish that instead of scraping.
Have the ceilings been painted? If they have it is extremely difficult to remove and I would consider putting new drywall up or paneling of sorts.
Good luck!
I found this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWmmjPhC5R4
We have some popcorn ceilings as well and I've been looking for a way to remove them.
Best of luck!
DIY is not hard. There are a number of videos on the internet that walk you thru it.
I did all the popcorn removal in our house before moving in --- it is a messy process, but not hard. (DH was recovering from surgery and could not help).