I moved into my new house last week. The family room needs to be painted this coming weekend before our carpet gets installed in there. But we have come into some problems. Mainly the popcorn ceiling...at least I think it is popcorn ceiling. It is all sharp little bumps. And as if that weren't bad enough(I hate textured ceilings) the ceiling is filthy. Cobwebs and dust like you wouldn't believe. I have done some research and have come to two conclusions...remove it or paint it. We are renting the house so we are going with painting it. How do I proceed with this. I heard using a paint sprayer is the best course of action. The ceiling is very dry and brittle. First I was going to LIGHTLY vacuum the ceiling. Then prime it. How many coats and what type of primer...I need something that will block out the dirt and nicotine. How aboiut Zinnser's B-I-N? Then paint it. I am planning on using Pittsburgh Paints ceiling paint...white. Anything else I should know? How easy it is it to use an airless paint sprayer. I am borrowing one form my brother. Any info is greatly appreciated...I am so dreading this!!

Annie

 

Pop corn ceilings were invented by sloppy sheetrock finishers.

I would wrap a cloth around a broom and lightly sweep the debris from the ceiling. Vacuuming may be to hard on the irregularities.

A good coat of primer will make the painting easier and probably more successful.

I would be inclined to use a long nap roller on popcorn.

Frankly, indoors is not the best place to learn to spray.

Zinsser B-I-N is a good product.

Practice with the airless sprayer on some plywood or something outdoors to develop control. Eveything inside the room will have to be covered or masked to use an airless sprayer indoors. Be sure to extinguish all sources of ignition when spraying flammable finishes indoors. This includes pilot lights on water heaters, furnaces, gas stoves, and such. You don't want any big red trucks at your house.

Hope this helps.

 

Wait a second, popcorn was invented by cheap home builders(lol). Is Zinsser B-I-N an oil paint? If it is the fumes will be bad. They also make a foam roller cover thats all cut up desiged to paint acoustic texture ceilings. Works OK. How big is the house? I understand it's a rental but you might want to remove it. If it turns over a lot it will be easier to maintain.

 

Wouldn't this be a lot less work and mess to buy a texture spray gun ($50) rent or borrow an air compressor and get a bag of texture ($8) ?? Probably a lot cheaper too. Seems that if you're OK with spraying paint, why not replace the texture rather than masking it. A texture sprayer is a lot easier to work with anyway.
I've also seen aerosol cans of ceiling texture but am not aware of how good they are.

 

Spraying more texture over what is already there is going to make a big bad ugly mess. It's ugly enough as it is let alone doubling it.

 

Although it may not be cheapest, it may be easiest to hire a painter to spray the ceiling. It is not the easiest thing to do and paying someone who knows how to do it may save you a lot of headache in the long run.