Drywall over popcorn ceilings?

Question

I am in the process of purchasing a townhome that has popcorn ceilings. I know the way to remove it, long and tedious. However, I was watching a home improvement show today where they dry walled over the ceiling! I do have higher ceilings, is this really an alternative to the old way??

Answer 1

In answering your question directly, yes it is an alternative. It depends on how big the area is and if it has been painted before, what method you want to use to "smooth the surface". If it is throughout the condo and the ceiling has been painted, you will want to consider "laminating" the ceiling with new drywall as quite a bit of damage will occur removing the spraytex because the paint will make it harder to remove and you will spend considerable time repairing it.. If it has not been painted before, you may be able to scrape off the spraytex quite easily. If it has been painted and you are going to laminate the ceiling with new drywall, you will want to use thicker drywall the more course the spraytex is. If it is a fine texture, you can use as thin as 1/4" board, if it is quite course you may want to use 3/8" or 1/2" board. Don't concern yourself with the weight of an additional layer of drywall, if you are able to hit the joists in the ceiling it won't be an issue. If you are not, make sure you use what we call "Fat Alberts" or "laminating" screws, they are thicker than standard drywall screws and have a course thread to help bite into the existing drywall ceiling. If you do drywall the ceiling and the taping job is not perfect, remember to paint the ceiling with flat paint to help hide any imperfections. Hope this helps!!

Answer 2

Covering Popcorn Ceiling With Drywall

Answer 3

There is always an alternative to everything. The "old" way is time consuming and labour intensive. The drywall-over method is easier and faster but materials cost more than a scraper and a spray bottle (if you get my drift). A drywall pro can easily do a ceiling for you. You can also tackle it yourself with a few friends and a case or 2 of beer (to be served AFTER the work is done... start early in the morning so the temptation isn't there... :) Taping and mudding and sanding is messy so be prepared for the dust (everywhere). SImply use a hammer and a 3" nail to find your joists above, mark them with a tick on the wall at each end of the room and away you go.
If you really hate the ceilings, your motivation is there to get it done right for you.

Good luck!

Answer 4

I'm not so sure about getting the drywall up evenly but I'm sure it could be done. I have apartments with pop corn ceilings and they have been a pain due to much mistreatment. I finally found a box of popcorn stuff (Home Depot) that I could mix in paint and very patiently repair it so that it looks as good as new. I then spray painted Bin over it and now can roll the ceiling when necessary. I can still only go over it in one direction, let dry, then roll the other way. Never, never use the spray popcorn ceiling repair stuff. All this just in case you decide to keep it.

Answer 5

After installing and finishing thousands of sq. ft. of drywall, and completely abandoning texturing any surface, certianly it would be the quickest option to do over. One issue might be that you'll have some uneven areas at seams due to the corn, but that can be resolved with ferring strips screwed through the old/into the rafters above, and made level for the install of the new drywall.

Installing new won't strictly be a day at the beach, but certainly no harm no foul in covering the old. The taping/mudding/screwing up/ sanding, finishing will be messy to a degree, but save some effort in what likely would be the corn residue as well as ceiling repairs you'd have to do once the corn is removed..

It was a bad idea initially, and never got better. In fact as a trendy thing it bombed, after the fact. The "beauty" of texturing is that it hides a lot of "sins"

Get help, at least two other people, tall enough ladders, 2 x 4 braces as tall as needed, and install new.

Steven Wolf

Answer 6

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RE:
Drywall over popcorn ceilings?
I am in the process of purchasing a townhome that has popcorn ceilings. I know the way to remove it, long and tedious. However, I was watching a home improvement show today where they dry walled over the ceiling! I do have higher ceilings, is this really an alternative to the old way??

Answer 7

how old is the townhouse? asbestos used to be used in popcorn ceilings, this could be a concern if it's an older t-house. going over the old ceiling is more work, but you might end up with a better looking ceiling that way. the hardest part will be finding and marking the ceiling joists. make sure that you use at least 2" screws so that you have good holding power. and as far as warnings about too much weight on the ceiling, i am sitting under two layers of sheet rock as i type this. the room is 12' x 14' and i feel safe, and haven't had a problem since i did it. by the way, you can get larger sheets of it, i used 4' x12' sheets so i had fewer seams to compound. they are a bit heavier to install, and a bit awkward to work with, but easier than trying to hide the end seams in my opinion. good luck, go for it and enjoy the new ceiling.

Answer 8

Usually a quick scrape gets rid of the *popcorn* coating that has been sprayed on. Builders put such a small amount on these days that it makes sense to just scrape it off then to re drywall.

Answer 9

Just put up new drywall like they did on the show. It'll save you time and you'll have a good surface to work with.

Answer 10

it depends on your personal preference, if you can handle the uglyness in a popcorn ceiling it does have some advantages-a popcorn ceiling is a sound barrier if it has not been painted but being a dry-waller id recommend removing the popcorn texture and opt for one of many different kind of textures with dry-wall