LESLIE: Alright. Now we’ve got Mitch in Texas on the line who’s dealing with a popcorn ceiling and like most people who have one, wants to get rid of it. Welcome, Mitch.
MITCH: Thank you very much.
LESLIE: So tell us what’s going on. Where is this popcorn ceiling? Is it truly popcorn? Are you sure it’s not a stucco texture?
MITCH: No, it’s a true popcorn ceiling. What’s going on is in our bedroom, we’re wanting to get rid of the popcorn ceiling and make it just a flat ceiling. But the thing is, underneath the popcorn are circle paint patterns – you know how when they do ceilings, sometimes they’ll take that brush and create circles all throughout the …?
TOM: Oh, you’ve got the double-whammy of textures: you’ve got popcorn and you’ve got textured spackle.
MITCH: Correct.
TOM: OK.
MITCH: And so I’m wanting to know the best way, if there’s a product or something to help me get that off without having to replace the sheetrock or cover it up.
TOM: Man, I tell you, that’s very difficult because the texture is probably in the spackle itself. And if they’ve done it the way I think they’ve done it, you have to sand that stuff off.
I wouldn’t do it. What I would do is I would get 3/8-inch drywall and cover that, man, one 4×8 section at a time. I know it sounds like a lot of work but in the end result, it’s the quickest and – quickest way to cover it up with the best possible result because you’ll have flat, smooth, perfect ceilings. Even if you were to go through the hours and hours it would take you to get rid of the popcorn and the textured spackle underneath and then painted that, it’s always going to look uneven and a bit rough.
MITCH: OK.
TOM: So I really think the best way to do it is to just to put another layer of drywall. You don’t need to use ½-inch; you can use 3/8 or even ¼ on top of that. Spackle it, prime it, paint it and be done with it.
MITCH: Now is there any special tool or thing to make the popcorn stuff come off that much easier or does it pretty much come off?
TOM: No. You can – well, if you spray it with a little bit of water and then just use a spackle knife, you can get the chunky stuff off that way.
LESLIE: Like a wide spackle knife.
MITCH: Alright. Well, thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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