All the ceilings in my house have a circular swirl pattern. I would like to change and make all my ceilings flat before I repaint them. How is this best accomplished? Thanks for replies.

 

I can tell you the steps I would take to smooth these cielings, but I would not recomend a novice Do-it-yourselfer to attempt, it take a bit of skill with the finishing tools for tapeing and bedding, I would recomend getting some quotes from pro painters or drywall finishers. If you are fairly well aquainted with the mud tools then it may be worth a shot, but, if not you may create a mess that would be more costly to fix then it is now.

What I would do is(assuming it has been painted), quikly scrape the cieling with my 6" tapeing knife, quickly sand it with my vibrating sander with about 60 grit paper, remove all dust with a kitchen broom and skim the ceiling with drywall compound twice if nesasary, the second time in a diferent direction as the first. If the existing texture seemed somewhat fragile, I would Kilz before skimming to seal it first so the wet mud wouldn't effect it or cause it to release. Then re-texture prime and paint.