depends on how high the ceiling is...if it is your standard hight, then get a step stool and a 8" putty knife...cover the floor well and scrape away....taller ceilings hire someone...it is not worth falling or killing yourself...oh, and wear a dust mask. Generally, when it is done you will find a sheetrocked and taped ceiling that needs to be primed and re-covered with paint or what ever....Also check out some of the Home Depot books on the subject too....

i guess jokes about adding some butter and salt and renting a movie aren't really what you're looking for, hmm...

I also want to get rid of my popcorn ceilings and a friend of mine who is a painter told me that spraying the ceiling with water first significantly helps the scraping process. He also stated that after spraying, wait about an hour. I havent tried it myself yet, but I thought of doing a test area with both processes and trying it out. Good luck! I do know it is a messy process.

just a idea.. but if you do not want a "flat Ceiling" you can do what i did which is take a 8 inch putty knife at about a 45 degree angle and just remove the cork texture by scraping it off ...running the blade over the cork or"popcorn"and leaving the latex base.. I then repainted which gave me a finish which looks a lot like a hand finished lace pattern..

Hi I am a new member and I have actually done this is many rooms in my house.

First and foremost test the ceiling for asbestos. Then lightly spray the ceiling in 1x1 foot squares with water. If you are not going to repaint the walls then tape up sheet plastic to the walls but definately spread drop cloths everywhere because it is very messy. Also wear your "grubbies" because as the damp painted crumbs land on the floor they 'glue' together and get on everything. Also be careful so you don't 'fling' the goop around because it will stick to the walls and dry, then you have to scrape it off there.

Next use a 4-5" putty knife at a 45 or more degree angle to the ceiling and scrape but be careful you are not digging into the sheet rock.

More than likely the ceiling is not finished under the ceiling texture, meaning it is just sheet rock and sheet rock tape. There might be a thin layer of something under it or not. Now you will need to recoat the ceiling with mud of some kind and then paint.

Accoustical (popcorn) ceilings is a texture that is blown on to the surface from a mud gun. The popcorn look is because the texture has not be "knocked down" (technical terms for it). If you want a smooth texture like orange skin--spray up new mud, let it set up for a few minutes and then take the putty knife and "knock it down" meaning you scrape the peaks of the top but leave a soft texture behind. If you want a totaly smooth texture--spackle up the mud in long over lapping sections. It takes a skilled hand to make the mud totally smooth.

Take a look at your walls, if they have a fine texture to them, you are better off spraying and knocking down the mud so it all matches.

You can buy the mud a home improvment center and you can either rent and industrial blower from a contractor supply or you can buy a small hand-held gun at the home improvement center also. You can mix things into the mud specifically for ceilings, like glitter! (think 50's twinkling ceilings). Lastly you paint over the new texture.

Words of Wisdom learned the hard way: Cover your hair when you spray the mud and wear eye protection when you spray. Give yourself lots of time because working over your head is tiresome work.

I agree: Take every precaution about asbestos. I think tearing down the ceiling improperly could also leave a lot of asbestos in your environment. You might want to consider covering it up with sheetrock instead.

Funny that you call it popcorn...we always called it cottage cheese.

I've never done it, but I've watched it being done... The guys I was with used warm water... Spray it, let it soak, then scrape it. Cover everything is good advice, because that stuff seems to splatter...

All this talk about food is making me hungry...

Removal of a popcorn ceiling is a lot of work but can be done by the do-it-yourself person. If you have never done drywall work before you will probably find the sheetrock repair along with texturing the freshly removed ceiling to be the most challenging areas. One of the recommended resources on this page is actually a site that is selling a manual for eight dollars and change. There are several sites out there, including this one, that have step-by-step instructions posting on line and don't charge for the information.

bigrehab.com/acoustic-ce...how-to-guide

I recommend that you give it a look and If you do decide to take on the project do one small room first to get the procedures down. You will be fine.

Did it myself on a 7-ft. tall standard living room ceiling about 16-ft. by 12-ft. square space, using a step stool.
It was slowwwwww going and your neck and arms get tired, so perhaps go for a while and take breaks.
Get a squirt bottle of water and WATER IT DOWN. That stuff is toxic if airborne as dust, so keep it wet and gooey.
Squirt a section and run the putty knife along a section.
You will likely begin to see the tape marks from the panels of drywall, 'cuz most of the time they just spray the stuff right on top of the tape.

This may be a dumb question, but could you just mud over it without removing any of it? Or would that just make a big crumbly mess?

From my understanding, that type of ceiling has small amounts of abspestos in it.
Supposedly it is not much, but enough that someone will probably charge you some sort of hazmat removal fee.
On the other hand, I've heard that you can remove it yourself by using a spray bottle and soaking the material before scrapping it off with a putty knife, thus minimizing any dust creating during the removal. It's the breathing of the dust that appears to be the hazzard.