How do I remove textured paint from ceiling?

[homediyguy]

 

  

We have moved into a 70s home recently with an interior that needs attention. Along with the cream walls and brown trims is a horrible textured paint ceiling. We would like to remove it and have flat white ceilings with new simple cove cornices.

The texture is not like in the American videos on YouTube where you can wet then scrape off the texture. It appears to be hard paint.

I've tried removing it in one of two way. The brown part (looks and feels like brown rough paper) where it came off easily using a scraper to go under the paper/paint.

The white bit was harder to do, seemed like I was removing only the paint but left lots of uneven bits that would need to be filled.

I think sanding would be difficult and messy.

Is the brown bit ok if I was to simply seal/prime/undercoat before paint, have I gone too deep, should I try something else, should I skin coat the whole house ceiling?

Looking to see if anyone else has had this issue and how they went about it?

Thanks all!

[MitchellMc]

Hi @homediyguy,

It sounds like a case of needing to use a scraper and just seeing where you end up. I'd be surprised if there was any way of removing the coating without doing some substantial damage to the ceiling. I would suggest that whatever method you choose you're going to need to do a complete skim coat of plaster across the whole ceiling once you've removed the stippled coating and sand it back smooth. This would be an incredible amount of effort for a whole house. Have you considered installing new Gyprock directly over the existing ceiling?

I don't believe the skim coat will adequately bind to that painted stippled coating. Can you tell what the sheeting boards are made from? It looks like some type of MDF.

Let me mention @redracer01 and @TedBear to see if they have any suggestions.

Mitchell

[TedBear]

I agree with @MitchellMc  that placing new sheets over the ceiling may be the most satisfactory method, giventhe  messiness of the existing ceiling's base. If it’s the whole house, I'd be calling in proffessionals who have the equipment and experience to do it all quickly and efficiently.