Scraping off one texture, and replacing with "knockdown"

OraarO

The rooms have painted acoustic (popcorn) texture now. I plan on scraping the tops off, as much as possible with one or two quick passes. Then skimming on up to two coats, applied horizontal and then vertical to minimize "skipping" over the remaining texture. Once that is sanded close to smooth, applying a knockdown texture by spraying thinned compound and then knocking it down.

Question - Do I need to prime the skim coats so the knockdown texture doesn't "re-activate" the mud that was skimmed on?

Any other tips on doing a job like this? I have a bid I am comfortable with for this, but looking to save time/steps wherever possible.

Thanks.

JCardoza

Good luck! drywall remodel is tough enough for an experienced profesional... Nevermind someone who doesn't know the basics. I would prime the ceiling after scraping and before putting any mud on.

OraarO

Roger that.
What about after the skim coats? Before the knockdown coat?

Brockster

Maybe you should be directing these questions to the DYI forum.

OraarO

Um, excuse me?

Why is that? Isn't this forum for discussing issues like this?

What am I missing here?

Brockster

A few years of drywall experience.

OraarO

OH, Thanks Brockster

I thought this message board was to help other contractors, not rip for asking questions.

What's wrong with asking how some others would do a job, instead of just assuming the way I do work is the only way? I like how you and J assume that I have little or no experience. I have been painting for 12 years, performing many drywall repairs and texture matching. I recently started doing drywall and taping since contractors I work for like my work better than the other guys they have been hiring (the pro drywallers).

Anyone else have ideas for me?

Brockster

Fair enough.

Was the popcorn painted??? If it is not then we used to just drape off all the walls with plastic and either use a very fine mist hose or a portable sprayer like the ones found in the garden section at the Home Depot and wet the acoustic down and wait a few minutes and scrape it all off.
Then just re-skim the seams and butt joints and touch up the edges and then spray your KD then prime and paint.

If it was painted and it were me I'd run!!! Or just go out and rent the portacable with 80 grit and sand the heck out of it. Skim the whole ceiling with 90 then with regular mudd, sand KD, prime and paint.

OraarO

It is painted, and I would rather not create the dust issue with power sanding, so scraping and skimming is the route I have chosen, for better or worse.

I agree with your method for removing unpainted texture - that works great.

Brockster

The portacable has a hose that attaches to a shopvac and is virtually dustless.

OraarO

Awesome tip - I will definitely look into renting the portacable sander.

Brockster

They work great for quick removal of acoustic and for knocking the sand texture off the walls for a customer who wants a new texture. It's also one of my most valuable tools when I get called to a job that someone already started. You just have to know how to fix all the frayed paper from sanding all the mudd off!

fr8train

if you are worried about the thinned mud re-wetting the skim coat mud, use some hot mud for the skim coat, like easy sand or anyone of a few diff brands. once it's set and dry, it's dry. new mud on top of if doesn't affect it. Also if you get the right time easysand, say... 90 or more. You could get both skim coats done in a few hours, and maybe even get the job done in a day. depends on the size of the job, one room no prob, whole house might be a bit tough to pull off in a day . best of luck to ya

rettt

Try this - get a pump sprayer fill it with warm water and spray the ceiling in approx 5foot by 5 foot area with the warm water after wetting down the area let the water set into the ceiling texture for 5 to 10 minutes then , Use a sharp mud knife and slide the knife edge along the ceiling making sure to watch out for original bed joints .The texture should peel off very easly ! Dont jab the sheet rock with the mud knife and damage the original sheet rock paper bonded surface . Make sure to take a wet rag or wet sponge and wipe all residual texture from your sheet rock surface after you have done the first step . If you leave the fine powered mastic of the original texture on your old ceiling and dont do a wet wipe down to remove the residual powder you will have major problem with your new texture wanting to flake off when it is painted with a roller ! In short if you do not wipe the residue off after wet scraping your new texture will flake off while using a roller to paint !

Brockster

Over a painted surface?

rettt

If the ceiling paint is flat paint it should work pretty easy with the warm water and the pump sprayer ! If the ceilings have semi gloss or high gloss paint , it will take much longer for the moisture of the water to absorb into the surface. Give it a try i do this all the time on residential homes which need ceilings restored to new condition , plus it keeps the dust completely out of the picture ! .

OraarO

Ok, I started this today, and it scraped off pretty well with a 5" knife. It was painted so there is some residual roughness left (more than just plain texture would have left.

Thought of the day is: Would using a mud box as seen in this Youtube clip, be an efficient method to skimcoat the ceiling? I plan on applying two coats by hand (12" knife) now, so I would be OK doing two with the mud box, if it left an OK finish after two passes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG7y-S3pLj0

Thanks for any ideas. Other thoughts on applying skimcoats fairly quickly?

I still have approx. 1/2 of adjacent area remaining to scrape, skim and knockdown texture in next two days.

rettt

From past experiences --- skim coating over the old texture ---moisture from your wet mud will cause areas in the old ceiling texture to release from the sheetrock causing what i call a drooping blister . Once the drooping blister along with all the other skim coat drys the drooping blister will be nothing more then a bubble . If anyone trys to use a paint roller on the blister it will crack and fall from the ceiling [ NOT TO MENTION YOU WILL SEE THE DROOPING BLISTER ]! After this happens you will feel like cussing then come to the conclusion you will need to completely scrape the ceiling clean then use a wet spong to remove all of the old residue which will be in the form of a fine layer of white material from which you didnt get off while scraping the texture off ! IN SHORT DONT SKIM OVER OLD TEXTURE . It could mean youll be doing twice the work in the end when you try to pull a quick job of it !

OraarO

Rhett -

I applied a coat of latex paint to all areas scraped, and that didn't bubble at all. I know there is the chance of existing to bubble, but seeing how it was painted once before, and now painted again, I am planning on skimming and not having much trouble. I have done ceilings like this a few times, and have not had any issues. Wish me luck.


Any thoughts on the mud box for skimming?

OraarO

Wow. $500 for one "skim box" and the pole?!
Holy shoot!

Guess I will hold off on that until I get a few more jobs lined up.