hate the stippled ceilings
 

Can anyone tell me the most effecient way to flatten my stippled ceilings? I have been using a wet rag and sponge, and its slow going. Gotta be a better way!

If it's paint roller stipple, a power sander would be better
If it's a "popcorn" style texture (like lumpy joint compound stuff), then water and scraping are the best way

We just bought a 16yr. old house and would like to get rid of the popcorn ceiling, too. It looks dirty and we would like to either get it smooth, or partially off (sort of like a knock down) and repaint it. When that type of ceiling is originally applied, are the joints and screws mudded as thoroughly as a smooth wall would have been? Or, do they do a half-__ssed job and rely on the spray on stuff to cover it up? I would rather not have to totally redo the joints.

I'm not a pro drywall man, but yes the joints are supposed to be taped, mudded and finished like anywhere else, and then the popcorn texture is sprayed on mixed in latex paint. Popcorn texture can hide a lot of defects, so you never know until you get it off.
It's a mess, but the best way to remove it is with a Windex-type spray bottle for water and a 12" sheetrock blade for a scraper. Try to experiment in a non-taped area with how much water to use to loosen it enough to scrape off of your particular ceiling. (I've also seen this done like this by pros on TV and they spread plastic sheeting on the floor and hang it over the walls from the ceiling to the floor.)
You may have to touchup any minor dents, dings, nail pops, cuts and the taped joints after scraping the ceiling, but if the scraping is done carefully it shouldn't be a major re-finish job.
Good Luck!
Mike

No
There are different levels of drywall finish, #0-#5
#4 is the "smooth wall" your talking about
(#0 being just sheetrock, #1 being "firetaping", #2 is the tape and fasteners are covered with one coat of joint compound....etc....)

Drywall to be heavily textured is supposed to be #3, a step above drywall to be tiled, but a step below drywall to be painted

So, if the texture comes off like a dream, I'd expect to do another thin, light, coat of mud, though it should not need major help
If the removal involved a fair amount of scraping and damages the joint compound, or the drywall only made it to level #2, it may need two coats to get it to level #4

Thanks guys for the info. I didn't know there were diferent levels of finish. I worked for a carpenter many years ago but that was before knock-down and popcorn finishes became popular.

Do you think I would be asking for trouble if I lightly brushed/raked the ceiling to remove the larger particles and then repainted it? Or would I probably be uncovering any defects in the original finishing by doing this? If so, I may as well go all the way and do a complete scrape down and repair as needed.

Thanks in advance,

Dave

It's hard to say for sure w/o seeing it, but I'm assuming you are thinking that would still leave some texture?

I'd kinda be surprised if you got the look you wanted by just knocking off some of the bigger pieces, and I'd expect the process to expose some of the drywall
(actually I'd expect it to get pretty crumbly, but if it's been painted well...maybe not)

....but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try it and see what happens

Hey, if the real solution is to scrape it all off, you shouldn't make it any harder by knocking off some of the stuff before hand

Or are you hoping to knock off enough texture to leave a flat surface?
I'd be shocked if that happened

Thanks for the suggestions.

Dave