At one time, acoustical ceilings were quite popular and were installed in millions of homes. Today, many of those homes still have "popcorn" ceilings, which are prone to water stains. One of the telltale signs of such a stain is the brown outline that becomes an eyesore. Fortunately you can remove these types of stains from an acoustical ceiling with the right materials and a bit of knowledge.
Instructions
1. Cover the floors and any furniture or objects in the room with plastic drop cloths.
2. Use a paint scraper to remove the loose "popcorn" material from the stained area of the ceiling. Hold a bucket underneath the area that you are scraping to catch the debris.
3. Seal the area with an aerosol spray stain sealer. There are specific types made to spray upward onto ceilings.
4. Allow the sealer to dry according the the product instructions.
5. Fill the bottle that is attached to the manual pump sprayer to the fill line with water. Pour the water out of the bottle into a small container, and add the recommended amount of dry texture mix while stirring.
6. Pour the texture mixture back into the bottle and screw the sprayer to the bottle.
7. Use a utility knife to remove the tip from the pump nozzle, and choose a texture setting to spray onto your ceiling. If you are unsure, try out the different settings by spraying texture onto a piece of cardboard or scrap piece of lumber.
8. Hold the pump approximately 12 to 24 inches from the ceiling, and spray the texture onto the affected area in a thin, even layer in one direction, and then spray a thin, even layer in the opposite direction. If you find that the area looks too different from the rest of the ceiling, apply a thin layer of texture to the area of the ceiling close to the stain.
9. Allow the area to dry, and paint with ceiling paint if needed.
Tags: area ceiling, even layer, texture onto, thin even, thin even layer