Acoustic ceilings are characteristic of old homes when interior designers used to look for an affordable way to lower the height of the ceiling while creating a barrier to filter the sound between floors. Called popcorn ceilings, they also served to hide the cooling and heating ducts as well as unsightly electrical wiring and plumbing fixtures.
Decades ago, they were the rage in interior design, and everyone just had to have them in their homes. But these days, space is quite limited and removing your acoustic ceilings can add some height to a room and make it more appealing.
Instructions
1. Find out if your ceiling contains asbestos. If your house was built before 1980, there's a chance that asbestos was used to construct it. Asbestos is a carcinogenic substance, so you should not attempt to remove an asbestos ceiling on your own. For this, call a professional contractor or cover it with a new drywall ceiling.
2. Clear the room of furniture and breakables. If you can't move bigger pieces of furniture out of the room, cover them with plastic sheets. Do the same for the walls. Spread a drop cloth over the floor as well.
3. Moisten a small part of the ceiling. Using a water sprayer, moisten (don't soak) a small area of the ceiling with warm water. You want the popcorn ceiling wet enough so you can scrape it off easily.
4. Scrape the popcorn off with a putty knife. Work across the ceiling, wetting and scraping by section until the whole popcorn texture is removed. Take care not to puncture the ceiling with the sharp part of the knife. Once you're done, leave the ceiling to dry overnight.
5. Sand the dry ceiling and paint it with a color and texture of your choice.
Tags: ceiling with