# Skim coat the ceiling - DIY or professional?



## Delicateflower (Feb 1, 2009)

Our new house has a texture (not popcorn) on the ceiling. Do we fix it ourselves or spend the money to have it done before we move in?


----------



## anywaybecause (Jul 9, 2008)

What's wrong with it? Is it damaged in areas & you need to patch & make the patches match the rest of the ceiling? Or do you just not like it & want to make it smooth? If the former, you can do it yourself, most likely. If the latter, hire someone or you'll never get it as smooth as you want it.


----------



## annekevdbroek (Jun 5, 2005)

We had a popcorn ceiling in our last house. I took it down - which was pretty easy. However, I found underneath a really poor job of taping and mudding, cracks, and patches. I ended up hiring someone to put texture (*not* popcorn) on the ceiling again. A drywall/painter person can get a much better finish that a DIY and will get the job done in a couple days. For DIY you are looking at hours and hours of back breaking arm numbing work sanding and patching a ceiling. To me this is a definite "hire someone" job.


----------



## crl (May 9, 2004)

Some texture has asbestos in it. So you might want to take that into account. I would hire this out. Working on the ceiling is really hard. I've helped drywall a ceiling and tape and mudding it and sanding it, oh my. My neck hurt for days and days.

Catherine


----------



## sunnysandiegan (Mar 5, 2008)

We did a combination of professional and DIY. We hired out the scraping and re-texturing @ $1 per square foot. Then, we caulked the edges, primed, and painted ourselves. Ceiling work is much more physically challenging than wall work!!!!







:

We recently had to replace large sections of ceiling drywall. Another combination of professional and DIY. Dad and I replaced the drywall (heavy, messy work). Then, I already had professionals here for reconstruction after a major flood, so I had them re-texture the ceiling since they were already doing the texture on the walls. TOTALLY DIFFERENT skill set is required for hand-texturing versus machine texturing!!! They did the best job they could, but it'll never match the original guy's hand-texture work. I primed and painted. With a patch job, it looks sooooo much better if you prime and paint just the patches first. THEN, paint the whole ceiling for that room. For our ceiling texture, we needed a thicker nap roller cover than the usual and it makes a BIG difference... as in the difference between our patches looking like patches and blending right in with the rest of the ceiling in that room!


----------



## Delicateflower (Feb 1, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *anywaybecause* 
What's wrong with it? Is it damaged in areas & you need to patch & make the patches match the rest of the ceiling? Or do you just not like it & want to make it smooth? If the former, you can do it yourself, most likely. If the latter, hire someone or you'll never get it as smooth as you want it.

It's just profoundly ugly. I could live with it for a couple of months, but the mess in fixing it makes it a lot easier to do before we move in. No asbestos, it's a paint texture and the house was built in 1988.

But damn! I wanted someone to tell me working on the ceiling is a breeze and fun.


----------



## zinemama (Feb 2, 2002)

I am sorry to tell you that working on a ceiling is no breeze and no fun. And it is certainly not something you want done while you are inhabiting the house if you have the choice.

Get the pros in, get it taken care of and move in without that job hanging - literally - over your head.


----------



## Ola_ (Sep 5, 2008)

I would try doing a small spot and see how it goes. We had the popcorn ceiling removed (professionally) in our kitchen and dining room. The contractor said he has done a lot of popcorn removal but ours was really stuck on there and required a lot of muscle. After that I think I'll hire out if we decide to remove any of the other rooms.


----------



## beanma (Jan 6, 2002)

Actually, I had a professional tell me it was a breeze! There may be hope yet!

Please note I have not actually done this myself, but I was talking to the owner and contractor at our local green building store and asked him about popcorn ceilings. He said that it can be a huge messy job if you try to wet it and scrape it, etc. He said the best way to do it is to rent a drywall sander from a local rent-it place. He described it as having a big sanding pad and a long extension pole (so no ladders are necessary) and a vacuum attachment so that the debris all goes down the vacuum instead of all over your floor. Now, I haven't seen this piece of equipment myself nor have I tried to do it, but it sounded like it could be a reasonable DIY project if it was approached that way. He said one or two people could do 1500 feet in a day with this contraption. You might want to do a little investigation and see if you think that would work for you.


----------



## sunnysandiegan (Mar 5, 2008)

I just remembered another project we did like this.

In the midst of our flood repairs and reconstruction, we pulled out our old hot water heater and installed a new one. Dad and DH pulled the old one out and replaced the water valve. Then, Dad went home to rest for the afternoon (or so he thought). DH (having ZERO experience with this type of thing) used the hose with our sprayer attachment and a 6-inch flat edge metal tool (stronger than your average putty knife) to remove ALL the popcorn out of this entire tiny closet. Popcorn was literally all over the ceiling and walls in this itty bitty closet (just big enough for the old hot water; very challenging to find a new one to replace it due to how tiny the closet is). As soon as he finished, I primed/painted the closet (single application). We were ready to install the new water heater in just a couple hours.

Removing the old texture just takes time and some muscle...very little skill is involved. It is messy no matter how you do it, though. The wet method is safer for your lungs, but still wear dust masks. You collect all the stuff in large plastic bags left open while you work and then wrap 'em up and dispose of them properly. I personally wouldn't use the sanding pole and vacuum method described above because I have allergies/asthma and all the dust from sanding small areas is enough to drive me crazy. The vacuum still doesn't get it all. We had professionals removing our tile/mortar and they "encapsulated" our kitchen and used an "air scrubber" for three days during and after the process. There was still a LOT of dust everywhere.

The skill comes with creating a new texture. You'll want to see the work someone has done before you hire them. What kind of look do you like? Find someone's home you like and ask them who did it.

ETA: We left the closet plain or flat; no texture. It is not pretty, but it is a closet that we never go into and we are happy not having popcorn all over that closet anymore.

P.S. Our house was tested for asbestos in several locations. All negative.


----------



## artemis33 (Jan 5, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *beanma* 
Actually, I had a professional tell me it was a breeze! There may be hope yet!

Please note I have not actually done this myself, but I was talking to the owner and contractor at our local green building store and asked him about popcorn ceilings. He said that it can be a huge messy job if you try to wet it and scrape it, etc. He said the best way to do it is to rent a drywall sander from a local rent-it place. He described it as having a big sanding pad and a long extension pole (so no ladders are necessary) and a vacuum attachment so that the debris all goes down the vacuum instead of all over your floor. Now, I haven't seen this piece of equipment myself nor have I tried to do it, but it sounded like it could be a reasonable DIY project if it was approached that way. He said one or two people could do 1500 feet in a day with this contraption. You might want to do a little investigation and see if you think that would work for you.

If you decide to do this please make sure to test for asbestos! My hubby scraped the popcorn from one of the bedrooms in our former house (wet method) then tested later and discovered it had a small percentage of asbestos







We were all exposed.

To the OP - ceiling work is very hard - I would hire this one out!!


----------



## Ola_ (Sep 5, 2008)

Having seen first hand how messy and dusty the wet method was (even with the room taped off with hanging plastic sheets everywhere) there is no way I would try doing it dry.


----------



## beanma (Jan 6, 2002)

Yes, I would definitely test for asbestos. The contractor guy specifically described using the drywall sander w/ vacuum attachment as being a very neat and non-messy way to do it, but that doesn't mean it's a safe way for asbestos abatement. Now, again, no first hand experience on it being non-messy, but that's what he said. I imagine it woud depend somewhat on your indivdual ceiling. It's my understanding that some popcorn or textured ceilings can be more difficult than others depending on if it's ever been painted, etc. Definitely worth researching and whichever method you end up trying if you're going to DIY I'd start in a closet so you have a little chance to get the hang of it and if you mess up no one will ever see it. Plus holding something up over your head for hours is just hard! Definitely worth thinking about hiring it out, but if you like DIY it might be doable. I think in either case it would be easier done before you move in.


----------



## Delicateflower (Feb 1, 2009)

OK, I get the point. Maybe I'll try inside a closet before I get the professionals in. I hate to think what it will cost, all the quotes I can find online are for popcorn removal, not skim coating over non-popcorn texture.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnysandiegan* 
The skill comes with creating a new texture.

Do I look crazy??? I'm not smoothing it out only to ruin it again!


----------



## es1967 (Oct 31, 2007)

I would definitely take care of this b/f moving in. We did our kitchen and the mess was horrible. DH scraped it and we hired someone who sanded and painted. Although, I really sectioned off the kitchen w plastic etc-it went everywhere. My whole condo still has popcorn on the ceiling but I just don't want the mess and all the dust. I will never move in anywhere b/f doing this again.


----------



## es1967 (Oct 31, 2007)

Sorry, misread post-thought you had popcorn


----------



## tinuviel_k (Apr 29, 2004)

We had ugly texture on the walls of our house. My husband and I tried to smooth-coat it ourselves. It was a dismal, utter failure. We just couldn't get it smooth enough to look even halfway good. We ended up hiring a professional and he did a spectacular job on the entire room. It was 200% worth the money.


----------



## Novella (Nov 8, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *zinemama* 
I am sorry to tell you that working on a ceiling is no breeze and no fun.

Yep! Even if you are reasonably-good at doing walls, ceilings are just so much harder to work on because of the angles over your head. Aside from the difficulty during filling and sanding, ceilings also show minor imperfections much more than walls because there is a large expanse with no break from pictures, curtains, etc.


----------



## sunnysandiegan (Mar 5, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Delicateflower* 
OK, I get the point. Maybe I'll try inside a closet before I get the professionals in. I hate to think what it will cost, all the quotes I can find online are for popcorn removal, not skim coating over non-popcorn texture.

Do I look crazy??? I'm not smoothing it out only to ruin it again!

Technically, "smoothing it out" IS creating a new texture.









From all your writings in this thread, it sounds like you do not want to REMOVE the old texture...but rather to add more "mud" on top of the existing texture in hopes of creating a "smooth" texture. That sounds relatively easy in theory. However, ime, theory and practice can quite often be greatly at odds.

Best wishes!


----------



## delightedbutterfly (Oct 5, 2006)

Hire someone Hire someone hire someone. Our kitchen ceiling is smooth but needed a hole patched where the old ceiling fan was. I am GREAT at patching walls and spent a whole day layering, letting dry be sanding this one small patch and after two coats of paint I can still see it in some light. Nevermind the dust and horrible job trying to sand it.

And painting is completely doable but SUCKS!!!


----------



## Delicateflower (Feb 1, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnysandiegan* 
From all your writings in this thread, it sounds like you do not want to REMOVE the old texture...but rather to add more "mud" on top of the existing texture in hopes of creating a "smooth" texture. That sounds relatively easy in theory. However, ime, theory and practice can quite often be greatly at odds.

Best wishes!









That's right, it's called skim coating.


----------

