In this San Diego HouseCall, Ron's mission was to help Teem Osborne give his classic Southern California Spanish style home a more authentic feeling. Ron showed him how to remove his old popcorn acoustic ceiling that did not go well with the original style of the home but had been added by previous owners.
Click Here For a list of what
you will need in order to complete this project.
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1. Preparation
Although this is a relatively simple process, it does involve a lot of preparation work to protect the walls and the floors from the mess. The first step is to move the furniture from the room.
Since you will be using water to remove the acoustic ceiling, make sure the electricity is off. You should use a circuit tester in the receptacle to make sure that the electricity is off.
With the power off, begin by removing any light fixtures from the ceiling. |
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| You will need to cover the walls and floor with several layers of heavy duty plastic. As added insurance for the receptacles, even though the power had already been shut off, tape small pieces of plastic over each outlet.
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| Extend the plastic floor sheeting up the walls about a foot and then tape the edge. This should keep water from getting under the baseboards.
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| Next, run a strip of painters tape along the upper edge of the walls, about a ¼ inch below the ceiling. This will provide a good seal at the top.
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| Cover the entire wall with plastic, taping the top edge to the strip of tape.
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| Roll out a layer of rosin paper. This paper will absorb a lot of the water that falls from the ceiling and will prevent the floor from getting slippery. It will also reduce the possibility of tracking debris into other parts of the house and make clean up easier.
Tape the edges of the paper together to keep it in place while you work.
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IMPORTANT NOTE: Some blown-on acoustic ceilings applied before 1980 contain asbestos (the use of asbestos in these ceilings was banned in 1978). Only a certified asbestos removal contractor should remove these ceilings. You can find out if your ceiling contains asbestos by sending a small sample to an EPA certified testing lab. It is very important to wait for the results before beginning any removal project.
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2. Popcorn removal
Use a simple garden sprayer and plain water to wet down the ceiling.
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| Work in an area about four to five feet square. It's better to make several passes and then let the ceiling soak up the water. The acoustic material can absorb a lot of water and the trick is to wet it thoroughly but not over wet it. Too much water can damage the paper surface of the wallboard underneath.
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| Use a joint knife to scrape the moist material from the ceiling, but first file down the sharp corners to help prevent them from gouging the ceiling, which would require repair work later on.
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| The water will do most of the hard work and the popcorn ceiling should nearly fall off by itself. If you run into spots that required hard scraping, simply stop, apply a little more water, wait for it to soak in a bit and then try again.
If the floor gets too messy, unroll a second layer of rosin paper right on top of the ceiling debris. This will give you a nearly clean floor surface again. After you have removed the final remnants of the old popcorn ceiling, you can take down the plastic sheeting from the walls and begin clean up. Simply roll up the wet paper and plastic on the floor.
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3. Repair work
The same water that so easily removed the acoustic coating may also loosen the paper joint tapes. This may result in several bare joints that need to be covered again.
Mix joint compound and apply a thin layer along the joint line with a six-inch putty knife.
Dip the joint tape in a bucket of water and squeeze off the excess between your fingers. Wetting the tape will make it stick to the joint compound better and reduce the likelihood of air bubbles. Use a putty knife to press the tape into the joint compound and then smoothed off the excess.
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| The same water that caused the tape to become loose may also erode many of the nail holes. Use joint compound to fill the depressions from the nail or screw holes. Use the joint compound sparingly because it is faster to make two thin applications than to over fill the holes, which would then require a lot of extra sanding later.
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| Once the joint compound is dry it will require sanding. Instead of using sandpaper, use sanding mesh, which is designed to go on a sanding pad attached to the end of a long pole. This way you can conveniently sand the ceiling without having to climb back up on the ladder.
The secret of sanding joint compound is to take off just the high ridges. The low spots can then be filled with another coat of joint compound.
4. Final touches
The final step includes one or two skin coats of joint compound to fill any low spots, with a light sanding in between. Next, prime the ceiling with a primer designed for use on wallboard.
Complete the project with either a final coat of paint or texture the ceiling to match the walls. Either choice will look nice and it depends on personal preference.
RESULTS:
The project was not difficult and it left Teem energized, with a feeling of much greater confidence. The new, smooth ceiling was the first step in making Teem's vision for his dream house a reality.
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