Popcorn Ceiling Diaries: How to Quickly and Easily Remove It

Is there anything worse than popcorn ceiling? That’s debatable, but popcorn ceiling is very high on my personal list of eye sores. Not just because it dates a house. Instead of allowing light to naturally bounce off surfaces, popcorn ceiling sucks that light in and makes the room feel more closed in. That’s why when we purchased our very first house in 2019, the first thing I said to my husband was, “that’s gotta go before we move in.” Although the process takes some time and effort, removing popcorn ceiling is actually incredibly easy to do.

Our house had popcorn ceilings in every single room. Every closet, pantry, bathroom. You name it, there was a popcorn ceiling. We lived about 30 minutes away from our new home, and although we both had full time jobs and a doggo still at our apartment, we were able to remove all of the popcorn ceiling in the house in about 2-3 visits to the house.

My Biggest Tip: Do this project before you move in

If you already live there, remove all of the furniture and anything on the walls and lay a tarp down across the floor

POPCORN CEILING REMOVAL MATERIALS

• Lawn / Home Spray Container (I’d recommend getting a new one if you use the one you own with any lawn chemicals)
• Lukewarm water
• Various size putty knives
• High density drop cloths
• Sandpaper / sanding sponge

Note: If your home was built prior to the 1980s, there is a chance your home could have asbestos. Asbestos is hazardous to your health and you would need a professional to test for it and remove it. For more information on that, check out this article.

REMOVAL INSTRUCTIONS

• Remove any air vents
• Fill your sprayer with lukewarm water
• Cover the room’s floor with a tarp or high density drop cloth
• Saturate (but do not soak) a medium sized square of the ceiling. (You will want to work in sections — I’d say only a few square feet at a time)
• Allow the warm water to sit for 60 seconds (If there is any dripping, you have used too much water)
• Hold your putty knife at a 20 degree angle to the ceiling, and slide across the ceiling

The popcorn ceiling should come off in sheets. If it becomes muddy at any point, you have used too much water. If it is powdery and does not easily peel off, you’re being too stingy with the water. Work in small sections at a time.

Related: How to Build a Custom Pantry

As I said earlier, removing the ceiling will be fairly easy. The cleaning up part will take a bit more time. If you plan to do this process in multiple rooms, start with an inconspicuous room — like a closet, the laundry, room, etc. We started with our laundry room, and we had a nice surprise waiting for us. The original builders never put mudding (drywall) on the ceiling in the entire house. I’ve included more photos later in this post so you can see the difference.

The ceiling you reveal underneath the popcorn ceiling should be a beige color. Our original builders did not do any mudding. So we decided to get some professional help with that so everything would be smooth in the end. (If you try to paint a ceiling without mudding, it will look like painted concrete, which isn’t good)

Here is what it should look like:

If your ceilings have properly had mudding (drywall), after you have scraped off all of the popcorn ceiling, then all that’s left is sanding! When you’ve sanded the entire ceiling to ensure you’ve gotten any little pieces that were left behind, you’ll be ready to paint. And voila! New, fresh, and completely smooth ceilings.

Here are a few photos after we completed everything:

And that’s it! Good luck! Leave a comment down below if you have any questions!

Much love,

Jenn