How to Remove Texture from Acoustic Ceiling Surfaces
Determine if your texture contains asbestos- you can get a test kit for that., Take your furniture out of the house if possible (having the furniture there makes a huge mess.), Determine if the ceiling texture has been painted over., Definitely wear...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Determine if your texture contains asbestos- you can get a test kit for that.
We covered all of our floors with the rolls of plastic that you can get cheap at Home Depot.
Once done, just roll it up and throw it away. , This makes it a lot harder to scrape off.
If it hasn’t, you only have to wet it lightly and it comes off like butter.
If it has, you have to spray it heavily (we used our hose with a sprayer attachment) and soak it in order for it to come off.
If you take a hand or pole sander with a really heavy grit sandpaper and quickly run over the ceiling before wetting it down it allows the water to penetrate into the texture a little better, making it come off easier. , That stuff is nasty.
We did the actual scraping with a few different tools.
We used the widest hand trowels that we could find (metal work best).
We also used flat headed shovels! They worked great because you didn’t need a ladder, the long handle was built in! On tough areas a ladder (scaffolding is safer) raises you so that you can get a better angle and clean more off quickly.
There is also a tool that allows you to hook up a plastic bag for easy disposal and less debris on the ground. , You have to use a pretty light touch and try to keep the edge level so that one end doesn’t dip into the drywall. ,, Roll up the plastic with the chunks on it and toss it.
Cover the floors with clean plastic again,just to protect floor. ,, We did it ourselves with an airless gun and texture that you can buy at Home Depot.
It looks like bags of concrete.
Be careful not to buy the popcorn stuff again, we did that! We mixed it up and thought, "Hmm… this looks really chunky"?, and had to take it back! So, we sprayed the texture on with the gun and then knocked it down to match the texture on the walls with a trowel.
It turned out pretty good.
My friends hired someone to do their retexturing after they scraped. ,,, You'll need at least 4 people tackle the task.
A good estimate of time it should take to accomplish this is 5-6 days. (You can do all the scraping in one or two days, the retexturing in one day, the priming in one day, and the painting in another.) -
Step 2: Take your furniture out of the house if possible (having the furniture there makes a huge mess.)
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Step 3: Determine if the ceiling texture has been painted over.
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Step 4: Definitely wear masks when you are scraping.
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Step 5: Be really careful when scraping so that you don’t rip into or scrape the drywall.
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Step 6: Scrape as much as you can off.Any little chunk will show through the texture.
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Step 7: Once it is all scraped off
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Step 8: use dry wall patch to even out areas or repair where you ripped through the drywall (I had a lot of those spots!).
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Step 9: You will want to sand the entire ceiling after you patch.
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Step 10: You can either do the retexturing yourself or hire someone to do it.
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Step 11: Paint all the ceilings with "primer/ sealer"?.
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Step 12: Paint it all over again with plain white ceiling paint (which is really cheap).
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Step 13: All in all
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Step 14: it is very worth it.
Detailed Guide
We covered all of our floors with the rolls of plastic that you can get cheap at Home Depot.
Once done, just roll it up and throw it away. , This makes it a lot harder to scrape off.
If it hasn’t, you only have to wet it lightly and it comes off like butter.
If it has, you have to spray it heavily (we used our hose with a sprayer attachment) and soak it in order for it to come off.
If you take a hand or pole sander with a really heavy grit sandpaper and quickly run over the ceiling before wetting it down it allows the water to penetrate into the texture a little better, making it come off easier. , That stuff is nasty.
We did the actual scraping with a few different tools.
We used the widest hand trowels that we could find (metal work best).
We also used flat headed shovels! They worked great because you didn’t need a ladder, the long handle was built in! On tough areas a ladder (scaffolding is safer) raises you so that you can get a better angle and clean more off quickly.
There is also a tool that allows you to hook up a plastic bag for easy disposal and less debris on the ground. , You have to use a pretty light touch and try to keep the edge level so that one end doesn’t dip into the drywall. ,, Roll up the plastic with the chunks on it and toss it.
Cover the floors with clean plastic again,just to protect floor. ,, We did it ourselves with an airless gun and texture that you can buy at Home Depot.
It looks like bags of concrete.
Be careful not to buy the popcorn stuff again, we did that! We mixed it up and thought, "Hmm… this looks really chunky"?, and had to take it back! So, we sprayed the texture on with the gun and then knocked it down to match the texture on the walls with a trowel.
It turned out pretty good.
My friends hired someone to do their retexturing after they scraped. ,,, You'll need at least 4 people tackle the task.
A good estimate of time it should take to accomplish this is 5-6 days. (You can do all the scraping in one or two days, the retexturing in one day, the priming in one day, and the painting in another.)
About the Author
Joseph Thomas
Brings years of experience writing about crafts and related subjects.
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