PopCorn Ceiling/ HELP!
I just bought a condo and I close on Friday. We have popcorn ceiling througout the place and I don't really like it but the only problem is I know it is a pain to take down and then basicly make a new ceiling with spackle or jsut put new boards up. I know this is a pain but how much of a pain can these be. Should I leave the popcorn?? Should I rip the popcorn down??
bump. i have popcorn ceiling too.
Marty,
More often than not the popcorn ceiling is hiding imperfections in the ceiling. I would just leave it there. What is your exit strategy?
I really didn't get this property for an investment, this is going to be more or less my place to live so I am not sure about my exit, may be mine for sometime. I really like this place.
Having said that. I did a 80/15/5 and when I pay off the 15 I may be able to rent this place out and make a positive cash flow each month.
if renting later i would leave it. if staying i would leave it. i is a mess. but hey if you have to it can be done. but i would have someone else do it..........km
Frequently pre 84 popcorn ceilings contain asbestos. If you are going to leave the popcorn I suggest painting over it to seal it if it fallls into this time period.
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Second it removes fairly easily with a spray bottle and a putty knife (wide). Then you would probably texture and paint over it
YOu would have to determine your exit strategy and ask what was most beneficial.
My exit strategy will be unclear for some time because I will be leaving here for sometime and if I do something it will be a rental place. I just don't want a mess on my hands, there is alot of other things I need to focus on. I am reddoing the kitchedn and two bathrooms.
Hey Stock,
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I never thought about asbestos being in the pop corn ceilings, prior 84'........thats good info.
Even so, If you are wetting it down (saturated) to remove it, then I would think it would not be a problem since its not friable.
I would also think this is more beneficial then framing another celing over it, where upon all the nail pounding is more likely to release fibers into the air.
I know asbestos is a natural product but it is amazing how much it has been used, mainly as a binder.
I still believe there is more hype and less education on asbestos as a whole.
Kind of like the mold issue......over rated and over blown.
NC_Yank
Quote:
On 2004-09-27 10:11, Stockpro99 wrote:
Frequently pre 84 popcorn ceilings contain asbestos. If you are going to leave the popcorn I suggest painting over it to seal it if it fallls into this time period.
Second it removes fairly easily with a spray bottle and a putty knife (wide). Then you would probably texture and paint over it
YOu would have to determine your exit strategy and ask what was most beneficial.
You should be aware that no smart contractor will touch it until he has sample checked by a lab to determine if it has asbestos.
If it is found to have asbestos, you'll then find NO contractor to work on it, except to cover it up with new coating of paint...as its removal would require crew in space suits, respirators, etc...a VERY expensive proposition.
I think the building was built in 1985, actually I am pretty positive it was built in 1985. I would be doing most of the work myself, I would just have someone lay the boards and spackle. I would do the ripping down of the popcorn.
Marty, my understanding is that you just soak the popcorn with water and then scrap it off. You let it dry and then spray texture on the ceiling, prime and paint. It is just a huge mess. The popcorn goes everywhere and you must tape everything or you will get popcorn and texture on the walls. If you are not good with a sprayer, your texture will look bad.
My house is 1600sf and I got estimates from 1200 to 3500 to get it done. Everyone said it would be a two person job and your house would be torn apart for five days. Decided to spend the money on new interior paint, area rug, window treatments, and a chandelier. At the end of the day, my house looks much better than if I had spent the money to remove the popcorn.
Brenda
Well my condo is empty and I am staring from the ground up so the mess I am not too condisered with I am just worried about what is underneath and the cost of redoing ceiling
Keep in mind that once you paint over it, it will not be a simple matter to remove it after that. The same goes if it has been painted over already.
Should you keep it or not? If you are living there the only person to answer the question is you. Do you like it or not? If you like it leave it, if you don't, get it out. Everything can be done with 2 elements, time & money.
Popcorn dates a place, it is not something you see in new places. Keep that in mind, if the place is a $35,000 dump then you would be silly to get rid of it, no body who is going to buy it later is going to care, they will just be grateful it has a ceiling. If it is a $400,000 really nice place, then the pop corn should go. If it is inbetween in value, then you need to make a judgement call.
I vote let it alone unless it's coming apart and falling. More than likely the popcorn is used to cover up imperfections that you will have to deal with if you remove it. I popcorned my workshop because it was really difficult for a DIY to get the seams perfect on a ceiling as the light reflects off it/walls are more forgiving and easier to sand. You could do a knockdown texture or something but then again you have some kind of texture up there so best to let it ride.
I love this site man. I am trying it out now but I may have to join for the yr.
Thanks for all that have responded and bump for all others who haven't.
Thanks
I have done this before and the asbestos topic never came up. My drywall contractors simply scraped it off and put up knockdown. It is VERY cheap to do. I think i paid somewhere in the ballpark of $0.25/SF. This is something I almost always do as it adds so much to the looks of the house.
So years and years ago I was renovating this motel out in Franklin Park. When we got there the place was a total dump. Had been vacant for several years and something of a house of ill repute for years before that. But a very large house of ill repute, as I recall the place had two or three hundred rooms.
Anyway somebody had sprayed everything with that popcorn stuff. Not only the ceilings, the walls, the ceilings and walls in the lobby, the lounge, all the rooms. Miles and miles of popcorn.
Here is the best way to deal with it worked out through careful experimentation and finally implemented en masse by a crew of hispanic laborers.
First you scrape the wall with a scraper. If the popcorn has been painted spraying it with water will not help much. Then you rub it with the flat side of a brick, this will remove the rest of the popcorn down to the paper on the underlying drywall.
Next you paint the wall with a good primer. Something that will seal the surface but be sufficiently porus for the joint coumpound of the next step to stick to.
Then you skim coat the entire wall/ceiling with a layer of joint compound. When finished the surface will look more or less like a traditionally plastered wall, not perfectly smooth and flat like drywall. Never, never, never spray popcorn on any building you intend to own for more than 6 months and sell a building with popcorn only to a person who does not know where you live.
So I scrapped with a scrapper first, then I sanded and now I am spackling. Let you know how it comes out.
Thanks
Quote:
On 2004-09-27 09:45, Marty211 wrote:
I just bought a condo and I close on Friday. We have popcorn ceiling througout the place and I don't really like it but the only problem is I know it is a pain to take down and then basicly make a new ceiling with spackle or jsut put new boards up. I know this is a pain but how much of a pain can these be. Should I leave the popcorn?? Should I rip the popcorn down??
If you do not have a heavy ceiling crown moulding, install a new sheetrock layer over the existing ceiling, tape, finish, and paint.
Less mess than all that scraping.
You can use 3/8" sheetrock if you can find it. Make sure screws find the ceiling joists through the existing sheetrock.
[addsig]
I am avoiding that cause my father is a union worker forever and is totally convinced he can spackle the dining/kitchen and hallway, we used a spackling knife to knock off big stuff then sanded and now we are doing two coats of spackle to cover. As far as rocking I Would love to do that but I live on third floor and between cost and hassle I think this is the easier way, even when u rock it you should still sand and knock off bumps to avoid issues later. I will keep this thread going cause I think alot of ppl will want to hear end results, I am going to have pictures as well.
Thanks
Once you determine there is no asbestos, it can be removed by sandblasting just like old stucco. I hope this helps!
condo was built in 1987 so there should be no asbestos.
When you say sandblast you mean machine??
FYI-The dumb $%$ didn't prime the walls b4 they did it, imagine that.
Sorry, but I think that anybody who advises somebody to DIY sheet rock over a ceiling has never actually done it. That is one of the worst jobs you will find in rehabbing. The rocking alone is hard, unrewarding work, followed by taping, mudding misery.
What do you mean rehab?? DIY???
what is your opinion
Marty,
"DIY" means "do-it-yourself."
Which I have done.
But many do some stuff, and many hire some stuff out. I would hang the board, and hire out the finish. But that's just me. I'd much rather hang the ceilings than reinsulate a low crawlspace. Once again, that's just me.
However, you say you are on the third floor. Ouch...
THAT sure makes my recommendation to hang sheetrock much less attractive.
Mike J
We did the kitchen and the hallway already so we are going for the scrap, sand, spackle, sand, spackle, sand method I guess. LOL..Should be fun but its my condo and we went all out for most of it so I don't want the darn popcorn
just sold my 900 sq ft condo in san diego, for 350k with the pop corn ceiling.
and i moved into a another condo that also has a pop corn ceiling.
after a few days, you wont even notice it!
i got a quote to remove it for 2500. not worth it.
and i think it has good acoustic properties too.
I've done spray texturing professionally seeing it is extremely popular in Florida. The popcorn can be scraped off, and the drywall part of the ceiling will still be in tact. When you scrape it off there could be some imperfections in the drywall so be aware. You can then sand it smooth (which I don't recommend) or apply a different type of texture, say knockdown or orange peel. Knockdown will look nice if applied to a smooth surface. The imperfections in your drywall could be intensified if not done properly. See, when you knock it down (the texture) the blades that knock it down are about 2.5 feet in length. The dips and highpoints get magnified by the long blade, which makes part of your ceiling thicker in texture and other parts thin.
I would just leave it. Yes popcorn is going out of style (1 out of 40 houses I spray request popcorn), but it does not add value to a property. Leave it, give it a year. If after a year it still bothers you, then replace it, but it's in your best interest financially to live with it.
Good Luck.
If you are considering the hassle there are a few ways to go about it. Look in the phone book for an enviromental agency. They usually charge a couple of bucks for you to scrape up a sample and send it in to have tested. If you're in the clear, scaping is a mess. If you have furniture and flooring that needs to be protected paying someone to come out is in the couple thousand dollar range. Otherwise you are looking at a long arduous task of using a hudson sprayer and a lot of plastic. Then, unless your a great drywaller, you'll need to repair and retexture, and repaint your ceilings. If this place is for you, maybe worth it. If not, then I'd say no. Most renters don't much care or have the respect to treat it like there own. Depending on the area and renters of course.
UPDATE!!
FYI-Place is totally empty and we gutted it and started from scratch , soup to nutts.
My father has been scrapping, sanding and spackling and in a nutshell creating a new wall. He is using a 6 in spackle knife and I think he is nutts but he is doing his thing, hard to tell a 66 yr old 40 yr union man anything. Things are going well and I will post pics after it is done
I expire tomorrow but for an update the ceiling are looking great. My pop basily just created new ceilings by scrapping/sanding and spackling.
Thanks for replies