Removing stipple off the ceiling

The goal is to get the place on the rental program asap, so we'll probably leave some work until later on. We may flip it in the high season if we can get a good enough price.

The first thing we needed to do was get the popcorn stipple ceiling off. It was only after we did this project that we saw one of those reno shows where they suggested to only use a professional to do this. Now I know why.

It's actually not that bad once you get the hang of it. The biggest problem is the mess - it's basically raining mud. But there are several steps to this so if anyone reading this is going to tackle this on your own, be prepared for a major time investment.

Step 1: Wet and scrape the ceiling


Step 2: Sand with a vacuum sander

Step 3: Patch and re-sand

Step 4: Clean ceiling

Step 5: Prime

Step 6: Paint
Step 7: This step is only done if you didn't do a good enough job of removing the stipple in the first place, in which case, after you paint, you'll notice spots bubbling up as the remaining stipple gets wet so you have to re-sand, re-patch, and re-paint. Re-diculous!

And did I mention the mess?