drywall over popcorn ceiling it has oill based paint

My Kitchen ceiling is 21 x 15 the popcorn ceiling has been painted with oil based paint. I would like to know if I can put 1/4 inch drywall over the popcorn.

I have tried soaking the popcorn using a sprayer, letting it stay wet for up to an hour, it still leaves a rough texture behind, and some areas are to wet and the paper will tear easy.

I also wonder about asbestos, I know the ceiling is over 25 years old.

 

Welcome to the forums! Asbestos was eliminated essentially in the late 70's, so I think you're good. With it being encapsulated with oil paint, it has even less of a chance of escaping.

I think scraping off what you can, and sanding down the remainder to where it is fairly smooth will be your best bet at getting a smooth application of the other layer.

Our paint guy will be along shortly with his take, so hang in there. Oh, dontcha just love popcorn in a kitchen????

 

I would scrape what you can and then smooth it the rest of the way with a skim coat of joint compound. You could run into sagging issues with the new thin drywall.

 

I have scraped some of it, almost every square inch will need a skim coat, this ceiling is from at least 1985. I guess I will scrape it all, and do the skim coat.

I was trying to save my bad shoulder

 

I hear you, working on the ceiling gets old after about 30 seconds.

 

Dry scraping the texture and then adding water is your best bet for scraping off the texture. The paint prevents the water from dissolving the texture but if you can scrape holes in the paint, then the water has a chance.

I agree with the others that scraping and skim coating is the best way to go. You might get by with 1/4" or 3/8" drywall overlay IF you glue it between the joists..... but I wouldn't want to garuntee it

Not as bad as popcorn in a bath rm. No matter how good the exhaust fan is, the moisture will still partially dissolve the texture making it loose it's bond with the drywall

 

I would not bother with adhesive as marksr suggests. The bond with the adhesive and the popcorn is only as good as the bond of the popcorn to the drywall which is tenuous at best. As much as I dislike scraping popcorn I dislike hanging new drywall even more. For me it would be less work to scrape, skim (maybe texture, but this is a kitchen so maybe not) and prime and paint. But then I am a plasterer not a drywall hanger.

 

I am guessing this would have been easier if they had put primer on be for the popcorn

 

With paint over the popcorn texture, a primer under the texture wouldn't make much difference.

 

We installed new 1/4" drywall over an existing kitchen ceiling in a remodel some 30 years ago, because the original plaster ceiling was badly cracked. It went up and was taped in less than a day, with a couple of helpers. It was finished in a couple of hours over the next couple of days, The ceiling was painted and the new ceiling fan/light combo was hung in less than a week without taking any time off work. It still looked great when I sold the place 15 years later.

What we did for the basic install was mark the joists with chalk lines, dry-fit each piece of rock, lay a squiggly bead of construction adhesive over the back of it, lift it into position, slide it a bit for good adhesion, and screw it through the plaster into the joists. Our kitchen was only 12' by 15', but the ceiling was 10' above the floor.

 

Scraping popcorn off a ceiling that has been painted is a nightmare. Trying to sand it is even worse. I've been there and couldn't do that. Of the 7 ceilings I scraped in my house, one of them was painted. I spent a couple of frustrating hours trying to scrape the painted ceiling with exactly the same results as Hank. It was easier to put up new drywall.

I would put up new drywall. I've never used 1/4" drywall but if you are concerned about sagging go with a thicker sheet.

 

I found that an old Red Devil paint scraper works the best.I make the first pass with a 4" flat blade putty knife, then it can take as few as 2 passes with the Red Devil and its done.

Sounds easier than it is, after I had rotor cuff surgery, my shoulder was been as weak as a school girls