Remodel & Renovate

Hello all!  In my search to find an easy solution to my nasty popcorn ceilings, I finally thought to search out ivillage.  :)

At any rate, apparently there are two options. Paint it and leave it, or scrape it completely off.  I am so not liking either option. 

Do any of you have a nifty little tip on somehow getting it to be not quite so "popcorny"?  I thought about lightly sanding it, but don't really know if that's a viable option.  (and no, I've not had it tested for asbestos yet so there's still that...)

OK, if you paint it, be warned, if you want to remove it some time later, it will be much harder as the paint inhibits the action of that spray used to dissolve the stuff...

And if you remove it, be prepared to find all kinds of hassle with the ceiling that is left, as popcorn was used to disguise wavy ceilings, cracks, etc. Which means you will need to bring in a new texturing approach, especially if the ceiling is plaster (if it's dry wall, you can re-drywall but the waviness could be a result of framing issues,

It is possible to spray over popcorn ceilings and this is done especially if it has gone patchy because, when trying to dislodge spider webs, etc. bits do fall off... But it doesn't really disguise the popcorn and it WILL fall of sooner or later like the old one did.

And of course there is the asbestos issue, a whole other can of worms as you well know!

Here's a good article on the way to remove the ceiling texture... which seems to be the long-term way to go.
http://www.plaster-wall-ceiling-solutions.com/popcorn-ceilings.html

On this forum, poster #5 skim coated over popcorn:
http://www.diychatroom.com/f15/how-smooth-out-textured-ceiling-31714/
I would only try this, through, if the popcorn itself wasn't coming off in little showers when touched (in other words, only if the texture already there is the hard, plaster texture used in the 70's and before, not the "Styrofoam" stuff you find in more recent years because what could happen would be that eventually, the falling popcorn would take down your skim coat). It would allow you to smooth out the popcorniness of it all...

Oh, and Armstrong makes materials that you can use to COVER popcorn ceilings.
http://www.armstrong.com/resclgam/na/ceilings/en/us/popcorn-ceilings.html
Somewhat analogous to putting up new dry wall over old walls with, seriously marred plaster, impossible-to-remove wallpaper, etc.! http://www.doityourself.com/stry/hangingdrywall

Hi, my remedy was to scrape. I sprayed a square foot or so with water, waited 5 minutes, held a cookie sheet under it, and scraped. I could only stand to do a square yard or two each night without being hopeless and bored, so I decided it was a long term project. After two weeks I had a nice clean ceiling, which could be sprayed with a light texturing from a can to cover the imperfections. After repainting it turned out great, but as I said, it took me a few weeks. :)

I'm at the point now that I might scrape as well.  I checked out the websites Carol posted (thank you Carol!!) and the things she talked about, and I'm petrified as to what I'll find under the popcorn!  And heaven forbid I foul up the drywall underneath.  And mine is the "fluffy" type popcorn so skimming is not an option--at least that's how I understand it.

I did paint the nasty stuff in my kitchen so woe be to whomever tries to take *that* off!  It may be there for a lifetime now.  :)

I just recently discovered that they have cans of spray-on texture (!!) so I'm feeling a little more confident on scraping since I wouldn't have to have a pertectly smooth ceiling.  And now that I know those cans are available, I can finally fix those holes those nasty teen-aged boys put in my walls!!  (I can say that, they are *my* nasty teen-aged boys!  LOL)