What is the best way to remove popcorn from the ceiling?

Question

What is the best solution for removing popcorn from the ceiling if I want to get it to look smooth afterwards?

Edit: thanks for your answers! Would you estimate that replacing the drywall on the ceiling would be less work/mess and result in a better finish?

Answer 1

My wife and I just finished doing this last month. Here's the process we took:

Before you start, check to make sure you don't have asbestos in the popcorn. If your house is newer construction, you don't have to worry about this, but if it's older, you may want to scrape a bit off the ceiling and send it to a lab for testing. If it comes back positive, I would have professionals handle it. Otherwise:

1. Cover everything you don't want to get gross and disgusting.
2. Turn off breaker for the lights and remove fixtures.
3. Use a spray bottle or a garden sprayer to wet 5' by 5' sections of ceiling with water. Be careful not to oversaturate it and damage the drywall.
4. Scrape off popcorn with a 6" or 12" taping knife, whichever you find easier to handle.
5. Sand any spots you missed that are still rough. (For the most part, everything comes off smooth.)
6. Apply mud liberally to any gouges you made. Most spots I had to go over were at the seams of the drywall.
7. Sand again.
8. Repeat 6 and 7 if you're OCD like me. If you want to get everything super smooth, shine a flashlight or work light parallel with the ceiling to find raised/gouged areas.
9. Wipe down the ceiling to get rid of any sanding dust.
10. Prime
11. Paint with 2 coats of ceiling paint.
12. Throw away drop cloths
13. Lie on the floor and stare at your new smooth ceilings :)

One bit of advice: You're going to make A LOT of dust, and it will get all over everything in your house that isn't covered. We did the whole process before we moved in, so we only had to wipe down the walls and floors.

After you're all done, you'll probably want to change your air filter as well.

Answer 2

We just put some new drywall directly over (under?) the existing ceiling. It was a lot easier and cleaner than trying to take it off. This was in a bathroom, though, so the area wasn't too big.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, you're going to have a really hard time removing it. The usual solution is to make a couple passes over it with a drywall knife to scrape off the highest spots, then skim coat the whole ceiling to make it flat again.

Answer 4

I am in the middle of doing this myself. I have been using a spray bottle of water and a wide paint scraper with a razor like blade. It comes off so easy but beware of digging in too much and dinging the drywall paper, then you need to go back and mend it and sand it. A small portion of the ceiling had been painted prior and I found this area easier to remove with just scraping no water and the appearance is much smoother. I don't recommend painting just for this reason though, you can achieve a smooth finish if you aren't too hasty or go at it too hard.

Answer 5

I had a co-worker who removed his popcorn ceilings by sanding them down (I'm not sure if it was a drywall sander or just a big sander) and then repainting them. He didn't get them entirely smooth, so it looks like they were retextured.