Removing Wall and Ceiling Texture

mortie

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May 25, 2015
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I'm looking to remove the texture on the walls and ceiling of a house.  The texture is really rough and appears to be plaster. 

Would the Planex do the trick here?

Would i still need to skim coat at the end or would it sand down to a finish surface ready for paint?

Update: Added a picture of the wall texture
 

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Have you tried hand sanding a section to see what you're dealing with? There's no telling what you're dealing with until you've taken some of it back .. my fear would be that texture coats are commonly applied to hide something really ugly underneath.

In the perfect world where it's jus a texture, the PLANEX would be the go to tool, but do a bit of analysis of the surfaces first.
 
What year was the house built. Before 1977 popcorn ceiling can contain asbestos. Need to have it tested before removing it if that is the case
 
BMH said:
What year was the house built. Before 1977 popcorn ceiling can contain asbestos. Need to have it tested before removing it if that is the case

Any sanding will look like a xmas tree flocking station with even the best vacuum.

I would would be using a large 6"+ putty knife and a spray can of water to soften it or some paint remover.
A sheet on the floor for the eventual moon surface that will appear forthwith like an astronomical anomaly.

Once the bulk is off then that mess can fill a trash can or 10 vacuum bags... At that point sanding might be worthwhile, but you will be smoother and able to know for sure.
 
What are the walls anyway? If they're plasterboard I'd probably rip and reline!
 
Holmz said:
...

Any sanding will look like a xmas tree flocking station with even the best vacuum.

I would would be using a large 6"+ putty knife and a spray can of water to soften it or some paint remover.
A sheet on the floor for the eventual moon surface that will appear forthwith like an astronomical anomaly.

Once the bulk is off then that mess can fill a trash can or 10 vacuum bags... At that point sanding might be worthwhile, but you will be smoother and able to know for sure.

I see it says (In the original post) , "appears to be plaster"...  In that case it is not popcorn.

If it is lathe and plaster then sanding makes sense as those walls are quality quiet, as well as a mongrel to remove.

If it is drywall, then Kev's suggestion may be best.
 
Just my two cents, but for the ceiling, why not just install a new ceiling over the textured one?  The amount of sanding/removal required to make the old ceiling smooth seems prohibitive to me.
 
I've sanded the texture off of plaster ceilings. The process takes about 2 hours for a 12x10 room using the Planex. With a little practice you can get the ceiling very smooth. The amount of material collected in the CT is impressive.

Tom
 
The majority of that texture looks like plaster while some of those random particles off to the side appear to be possibly Sand-Tex mixed in with paint if the ceiling was patched. If it is plaster, I'd keep the ceiling in place and just try to smooth it out as [member=4105]tjbnwi[/member] suggests. Plaster is nice and quiet.
 
Depends a lot on what it is, of course, but if it is popcorn on the ceiling, you can get a putty knife that takes a bag and will cut down on the mess.  I've done one large room with it (about 500 ft2) and a relatively small bathroom in two different homes.  The large room was ready for paint after I was done with the putty knife but the bathroom had to have the walls reconnected with the ceiling, somebody cut the paper tape hanging wallpaper.  You have to be prepared to deal with both the mess of the popcorn and the mess you may find in what is underneath.  It is not a high cost project in money but it can eat up a bunch of time.
 
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