How To Repair Ceiling After Removing Popcorn

11 Tips on How to Remove a Popcorn Ceiling Faster and Easier

Popcorn ceilings were all the rage back in the '60s and '70s. Applying the texture to drywall and plaster ceilings was a quick and easy style to hide imperfections and didn't crave whatsoever painting afterward. Merely the crude texture catches lots of dust and cobwebs and it tin be hard to know how to remove popcorn ceiling. It can be a existent pain to match if you have cracks or holes in need of patching. Figuring out how to remove a popcorn ceiling texture from a ceiling is a messy chore just worth the endeavor if the substrate underneath is in good shape. Here are some tips to have some of the pain out of popcorn ceiling removal.

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Practice a Scrape Exam

Before y'all go to all the trouble of prepping the room, try scraping a minor area while learning how to remove popcorn ceiling. Attempt it dry start, so dampen the texture with water and endeavour over again. Some texture comes off easily without water, but in most cases wetting is best. If the water doesn't soak in and soften the texture, the ceiling has probably been painted or pigment was added to the texture mix. In that case, wetting the ceiling may not help, and you'll accept to decide whether y'all want to tackle a actually tough scraping job or cull another fashion to hide your popcorn ceiling.

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Test for Asbestos

Any popcorn ceiling installed before 1980 might contain asbestos—a known cause of lung cancer. Before trying to figure out how to remove any popcorn ceiling texture, contact your local health department and ask about getting a sample tested. So you're wondering how to remove a popcorn ceiling with asbestos? If the test comes back positive, cover the popcorn with new drywall or natural language-and-groove planks, or hire an asbestos abatement contractor to help in removing popcorn ceiling.

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Prep for a Big Mess

Cover floors and walls with plastic drop cloths as you begin your how to remove popcorn ceiling project. Don't use sail drop cloths because water can soak through. Cleanup is easier with plastic besides, considering you can only ball information technology all up when yous're done working and throw it in the trash. Leave the plastic in place after popcorn ceiling removal to catch the mess you'll make repairing and sanding the ceiling later.

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Become the Furniture Out

If possible, remove all piece of furniture from the room yous'll exist working in. When learning how to remove popcorn ceiling, it is messy work, and you lot won't desire furniture in your fashion every fourth dimension y'all motility the ladder around. If moving everything out of the room isn't possible, cluster information technology and encompass it with drop cloths.

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Remove Ceiling Fixtures and Fans

You lot might think it's easier to leave light fixtures and ceiling fans in place every bit you effigy out how to remove popcorn ceiling, but they'll just be in your way and get covered with moisture popcorn. Plus, you don't desire to accidentally spray h2o into an electric fixture.

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Protect Can Lights From H2o Spray

If y'all take recessed "can" lights, stuff newspaper or rosin newspaper inside them to keep them dry when completing a how to remove popcorn ceilings project. Likewise, brand certain the ability to those fixtures is turned off at the circuit breaker panel or fuse box.

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Wet it With a Pump Sprayer

For easier scraping and practically no dust during popcorn ceiling removal, use a garden pump sprayer to mist the ceiling and let it soak in for about 15 minutes before scraping. Just requite it a light misting—too much water could damage the drywall or loosen the articulation tape. If the texture hasn't softened later on 15 minutes or so, spray information technology again and await another x to 15 minutes.

If the texture still hasn't softened, it might exist painted, or pigment might have been mixed into the texture before application. In either case, h2o won't easily penetrate. If the texture is painted, you might be able to dry out-scrape it first to betrayal some of the unpainted texture and follow up with wet scraping. If the texture has paint mixed in, you might accept to dry out-scrape the whole ceiling or cover it up with drywall or T&One thousand boards.

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Embrace Electric Boxes

Shut off the ability to whatsoever electrical junction boxes in the ceiling and cover them with painter'southward tape to keep the wiring dry out when spraying water on the popcorn as you complete a how to remove popcorn ceilings project. Overlap the sides of the junction box with the tape, then trim around the perimeter with a utility knife, being conscientious non to nick the wires.

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Work in Small Sections

Only spray and scrape a pocket-size surface area at a time—nigh 4 10 4 ft. If yous piece of work too large of an area at in one case, the popcorn might dry earlier you have time to scrape it off. If that happens, respray the area and wait some other ten to 15 minutes before scraping.

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Tame the Mess With a Mud Pan

Use a mud pan—the kind for holding articulation compound—to catch the wet popcorn before it hits the floor. That way, you're not tracking it all over the identify when you walk and motility the ladder around. Besides, use the border of the pan to clean off your scraper when it gets loaded upwardly with wet popcorn.

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Smooth After Scraping

Scraping alone won't exit you with a paint-ready ceiling. You'll probably take small-scale dings and gouges to ready. At a minimum, you lot'll accept to sand the ceiling to become it perfectly smooth before painting.

Originally Published: October 17, 2019

Source: https://www.familyhandyman.com/list/how-to-remove-a-popcorn-ceiling/

Posted by: loydtoldneire.blogspot.com

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