clear the room, spread down a million drop cloths, arm yourself with a spray bottle of water, a large scraper,ladder; then soak the cottage cheese, wait for it to soften (won't take long!) and start scraping. If anyone knows an easier way, I'd love to hear it.
There is normally *alot* of post scraping work to do on any remaining bits of the popcorn. Also, you may inadvertently cause damage to the ceiling which will need to be repaired based on your degree of scraping skills.
After introducing so much water onto your drywall/ceiling, you need to tape and mud the seams to assure the drywall sheets don't ripple, etc., later.
Next, it's time to prime and then paint shortly after.
I'm sure you are already aware of the possible issues with aesbestos, so be careful! You should wear goggles, a respirator/very good breathing mask, and a jumpsuit, IMHO. Be sure to tape off and "seal" any doorways leading in and out of the room you are working on. This helps to contain the mess/air particles.
Also, if the popcorn ceiling has been painted over, that will make the job of removing the popcorn MUCH harder. The soaking time between spraying on the water and scraping off the popcorn will increase.
There is a scraping tool available at big box home supply stores that allows you to attach a plastic grocery bag to the scraper. This allows some of what you scrape to be caught in the bags making for easier cleanup (as you go along). Downside is that this increases the weight/difficulty in scraping the crap off in the first place and may slow down the process of scraping itself. Always a tradeoff.....
No matter what it *ain't* gonna be easy! lol Good luck. I hope you end up with fabulous results!
Saw this in a book called, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Staging Your Home to Sell"...
Asbestos is a carcinogenic product formerly used in the home in a number of places, including tiles and insulation. It can still be found, though usually in older homes (prior to the 1980's) appearing as "cottage cheese ceilings"...
Be careful.
You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Posts: 1837 | Location: West TX, USA | Registered: Sep 18, 2002
cravecolor and arby, Thank you soo much for responding with concern. I'm wearing protective gear and you're right it is a lot of work. So far so good for my first job. I'm only tackeling the main floor. I can live with the rest.
