How do you clean popcorn ceilings?

Question

In our vacant rental the previous occupants did not dust the ceiling fan blades and there is a huge build up of black dust on the ceiling. The reason the dust is black is because they burned candles all the time. We have tried dusting, vacuuming, using a brush and nothing has touch it yet. Any help will be appreciated.

Answer 1

Unwelcome news, but an unavoidable requirement: give up the cleaning effort, then remove the popcorn and re-finish the ceiling.

To re-finish (after removal of the popcorn) you will definitely need to apply a sealer like KILZ or B-I-N before painting.

These products block the soot and stains from smelling and from seeping through and staining new paint. Virtually every form/brand/type of paint is susceptible to this bleeding effect, no matter how hard the sales persons tries to tell you otherwise, so you really need one of the specialized products.

Both will do the covering job quite well. My preference is BIN, because it dries VERY quickly and because KILZ has a horrible smell that I found very difficult to handle, and the smell hangs on long after the paint is dry.

A word of caution, is that ventilation is VERY important. Use an exhaust fan mounted in a window to cut down the effects of the fumes. This applies to both products.

If the mess produced by removal of the popcorn is too much, scrape away as much as possible, then lay new drywall across the entire ceiling and finish it completely, as a new ceiling. .

Answer 2

You can Spray them with a sealer and spray the ceiling to cover it up. There is one little thing when you do this it is very hard to remove because the paint will keep the water out of the ceiling material and it is very difficult to scrape off.

Answer 3

It's tough. You could cover all the furniture and sweep the ceilings with a clean broom, or you could repaint - giving it a fresh look and sealing the popcorn on a bit more.

Answer 4

The only way to take care of popcorn ceilings is to have someone come in and professional use a spray gun to repaint them. If you try rolling it yourself you will lose alot of the popcorn. They have a more powerful compressor to spray that type of ceiling. Not the best ceiling to have to keep up the maintenance on. It does cost alot to have them done professional.

Answer 5

I have popcorn walls...I dont know about the ceiling but I repaint..you will have to use kilz or something like that to cover the stain...in the days of whenever, varnish was applied then the paint...
Second option: remove the popcorn and put up drywall...eventually it will have to be done as popcorn does not last and starts to crack and fall down

Answer 6

Paint; ceiling white. Washing will not work as the water will dissolve the material.

Answer 7

There is no cleaning the stuff. You either paint or take it off and then paint. It comes off quite easily although is major league messy. Painting it isn't a snap either. Talk to your local paint store.

Answer 8

spray paint it/