Remove popcorn ceiling or skim coat it?

[JDUB]

Back in the day popcorn was used because it was cheap and alleviated labor cost. It also was used to cover up tons of inconsistencies in sheet rock work.

You would need to use a pump sprayer to spray and soak the material. It’s basically joint mud. Then once it is damp you scrape it off and it falls to the floor not making a lot of dust.

after this you may not like what you find and you will end up having to level five the ceiling. What that is a very time-consuming and laborious task to get it to look flat. Personally I would just leave it. But if you really want it done I would have a skilled Finisher do it.

And at the end of it all that’s just for one room.

 

[basstracker89]

If it looks OK you'd be better off leaving it alone. It would cost a lot of money to change it. Now you could paint it with a thick napped roller

 

[Smiley]

I’d almost say leave it, laminate over with 1/4” drywall and finish that instead of trying to scrape it all down and skim, but you would have to re-run the crown.

 

[joel2000]

let a good finisher give you pricing and then decide. I hate popcorn. Like JDUB said… it was a cost saving finish.

 

[traheem01]

Literally a 1 day project depending on how wet you soak the popcorn. If you do it right the mud will be drying by lunch.

 

[the_great_white]

Bead board paneling over the popcorn, little to no mess, cheaper, quicker, easier, and better looking in my opinion

Crown to finish

 

[Plinker66]

Some of the old popcorn ceilings have asbestos in them. Beware opening up that can of worms.

 

[thendricks]

Shoot me a PM we do about one of these a month.

 

[BHPSteel]

I had some success with a heavily sanded ceiling (basically the same deal) by just covering the whole lot with 1/4 sheetrock as Smiley noted above. It was an older house, so it also succeeded in leveling the surface.

 

[boomer]

Another thought: Install 1/4" sheetrock over the popcorn. Tape rhe seams, mud, sand, paint