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Getting rid of popcorn ceilings

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Pope

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Feb 7, 2015
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Our house was built in the mid-70's and has popcorn ceilings throughout. Not long ago I decided it's time to replace the dingy popcorn texture with a nice white knock down texture. I thought about hiring the job out, but I figured it would cost several thousand dollars, so I decided to take the project on myself after I had my ceilings tested to make sure the popcorn doesn't contain asbestos.

I've finished 3 of the 4 bedrooms and a bathroom thus far. Thought I'd get all of those done before I start on the hallways and kitchen, dining, and living rooms this summer. It's a very very messy job, but the final product looks really nice - so much better than the outdated popcorn.

Just curious if anyone else has taken on a DIY project like this. Any idea how much you saved by doing it yourself? Does it help much when it comes time to sell your house?
 
We have a weird texture on our ceilings that we don’t like. They’re are basically like seashells that we’re made with a trowel. Instead of scraping it off, we were going to just put a layer of drywall over it, but my wife got a promotion and we need to move, so that’s no longer on the list :)
 
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Pope said:
Our house was built in the mid-70's and has popcorn ceilings throughout. Not long ago I decided it's time to replace the dingy popcorn texture with a nice white knock down texture. I thought about hiring the job out, but I figured it would cost several thousand dollars, so I decided to take the project on myself after I had my ceilings tested to make sure the popcorn doesn't contain asbestos.

I've finished 3 of the 4 bedrooms and a bathroom thus far. Thought I'd get all of those done before I start on the hallways and kitchen, dining, and living rooms this summer. It's a very very messy job, but the final product looks really nice - so much better than the outdated popcorn.

Just curious if anyone else has taken on a DIY project like this. Any idea how much you saved by doing it yourself? Does it help much when it comes time to sell your house?
Click to expand...
I’ve done holes in the wall but not entire rooms. I don’t have the patience (and probably much skill) for taping and texturing. It’s like a fine art if done correctly.
 
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We just bought a house, with popcorn ceilings throughout. We are going to remove it from the main floor before we move in. We also need to paint the cabinets, ceilings (after removal), and walls of the main floor. I decided to get some estimates, most were 4k for 1100 sqft. I decided I'd do it myself...then I continued to ask around and found a guy that's going to take it on for me, for 2k. Well worth it to me, as it will save me time and we already have a decent list to achieve before we want to move in.

I will be doing the basement ceilings myself, after we move in. I've watched a few utubes but I'll be watching the pro for a few pointers.
 
I did it, in one of the houses I lived in, huge open space in the kitchen dining looked like a sea of popcorn, it was awful.

I used a detergent solution, and wetted it slightly, and then scrapped it to a bag. While this did cut down on dusty mess, it was another sticky mess and had a tenancy to go deeper than it needed to be. Since I have seen a lot of people doing it just dry, which is a lot easier but much dustier. But if you are sure there is no asbestos and wear a dust mask you are fine, if you dont mind cleaning the dust.

You can find both methods online, and both have their plus's and minus's, I would say just dont over dampen it if you use the wet method. Just enough to keep the dust down.

The solution was a simple cheap powder detergent, the name escapes me right now, and water, then just sprayed on with a lawn sprayer.
 
We replaced the carpet in our entire house. An installer that was recommended to us told me I could save a lot of money by removing all the old carpet, pads, nails, staples.
I did it in two phases: shoved half of the houses crap into the other half, then removed everything, then he installed.
I then shoved everything back onto the new half, removed everything, then he installed. Then I had to put everything back where it belonged.

It was the most labor intensive thing I've ever done. Also, carpeted stairs have one billion staples in them if your edges are rolled over and carpeted as well.

Never again.
 
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My wife did our entire upper floor before kids while I was out of town because I didn’t see the value in the commitment. Wish we did it all now, but I’m not sure it’s something that adds value to the sale of a home.
 
Just laid floors on the entire basement main floor. Thought it could take a dedicated day or two, but it took a full week of 8 hour days and then 1-2 nights for a few weeks after.

Have been struggling on the popcorn ceiling. Every contractor I’ve spoke with said they’d do it for less than $3,000 and don’t test for asbestos/just assume the home doesn’t have it. So I’m debating just doing myself assuming the ceiling doesn’t have it.
 
I had it all removed before I moved into the current house I own. I didn't really have time to do it myself with everything else I was doing. Ended up getting it done for $2,000, but it was a little cheaper for me as I was replacing the carpet after, and didn't require them to be careful with the old carpet or clean up fully when done.
 
In our last house we did quite a bit. My wife repainted the cabinets and did this paint thing on the laminate counter tops. The big project was putting in laminate plank flooring. This requires tearing out the existing carpet in the living room, hallway and stairs along with the laminate flooring in the dining room and kitchen which was installed on plywood. That whole project SUCKED. It looked decent enough after words but there were plenty of amateur DIY issues.
 
Pope said:
Our house was built in the mid-70's and has popcorn ceilings throughout. Not long ago I decided it's time to replace the dingy popcorn texture with a nice white knock down texture. I thought about hiring the job out, but I figured it would cost several thousand dollars, so I decided to take the project on myself after I had my ceilings tested to make sure the popcorn doesn't contain asbestos.

I've finished 3 of the 4 bedrooms and a bathroom thus far. Thought I'd get all of those done before I start on the hallways and kitchen, dining, and living rooms this summer. It's a very very messy job, but the final product looks really nice - so much better than the outdated popcorn.

Just curious if anyone else has taken on a DIY project like this. Any idea how much you saved by doing it yourself? Does it help much when it comes time to sell your house?
Click to expand...
I'm in construction and you saved a lot by doing it yourself. Hope your popcorn wasn't painted? As far as resale ceiling texture probably won't add significant dollars to the resale but it will definitely show better. I always tell people it's nice to add equity into a house but first it's your living space. Make it as nice as you can while living there and enjoy your home. Getting rid of ugly popcorn is a great step!
 
Good job! That’s a lot of work. I scrapped our old house in 2 different remodel phases...about 1800 square feet. Looked so much fresher when done with a nice new knock down!
 
JP4CY said:
We replaced the carpet in our entire house. An installer that was recommended to us told me I could save a lot of money by removing all the old carpet, pads, nails, staples.
I did it in two phases: shoved half of the houses crap into the other half, then removed everything, then he installed.
I then shoved everything back onto the new half, removed everything, then he installed. Then I had to put everything back where it belonged.

It was the most labor intensive thing I've ever done. Also, carpeted stairs have one billion staples in them if your edges are rolled over and carpeted as well.

Never again.
Click to expand...

I removed the carpet that the previous owner had placed on my stairs as well. You are NOT KIDDING about the number of staples. I purchased on of these for the job:

1649003605824.png



It has worked AWESOME on other projects as well. Really saved a TON of time removing the staples.
 
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