touchup on a popcorn textured ceiling

[daniel49]

Had a small roof leak in one bedroom which I am trying to get the roofers to address.
However its created an unsightly stain on the ceiling.
Is there an economical and easy way to touch it up without redoing the ceiling?

 

[dullard]

How big of an area? If it is small (say a few inches) then there is a very convenient tub of popcorn you can buy at any home improvement store. You just take a brush and dab it onto the ceiling. If your ceilings are slightly off-white, you won't even need to paint it to match.

If it is a larger area, I don't have experience with popcorn. Putting large areas up is messy, but not too difficult. You can just spray it up there, or any professional should be able to do this without much cost.

 

[hanoverphist]

they sell popcorn spray cans at home depot, ive had fairly decent results with that. but, the stain may pop back thru over time, which would suck. personally i hate the acoustic ceiling, i have plaster ceilings.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: daniel49
Had a small roof leak in one bedroom which I am trying to get the roofers to address.
However its created an unsightly stain on the ceiling.
Is there an economical and easy way to touch it up without redoing the ceiling?

just use a brush and dab some paint on it. you're going to have to do some pretty good matching though.

 

[MX2]

Spray it with a mild solution of bleach and water, then repaint it

 

[49erinnc]

Wet entire ceiling with spray bottle, scrape off all of the popcorn, sand/compound/caulk any trouble areas and repaint for a nice, contemporary, smooth surface.

My house is popcorned and I hate it. One of these days I'm going to scrape it all off for a better and less dated look.

 

[gwrober]

Originally posted by: hanoverphist
they sell popcorn spray cans at home depot, ive had fairly decent results with that. but, the stain may pop back thru over time, which would suck. personally i hate the acoustic ceiling, i have plaster ceilings.

I've used this stuff with success - but my .02 is that I hate popcorn ceilings.

 

[MrPickins]

Spray it with oil based, stain blocking primer (think Kilz), then repaint with the original color.

Do your best not to knock down the texture. Patching that kind of texture is hard to do without it being obvious.

 

[hellman69]

Originally posted by: 49erinnc
Wet entire ceiling with spray bottle, scrape off all of the popcorn, sand/compound/caulk any trouble areas and repaint for a nice, contemporary, smooth surface.

My house is popcorned and I hate it. One of these days I'm going to scrape it all off for a better and less dated look.

If it's pre-1970's, you would be wise to have a sample checked for asbestos before taking it down.

Trevor

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: 49erinnc
Wet entire ceiling with spray bottle, scrape off all of the popcorn, sand/compound/caulk any trouble areas and repaint for a nice, contemporary, smooth surface.

My house is popcorned and I hate it. One of these days I'm going to scrape it all off for a better and less dated look.

I'm guessing you've never done that before. It's not as easy as it sounds.

And, after you get the texture off, you'll have a rough, torn up ceiling which will need a good mud-man to float out with layer after layer of plaster/joint-compound.

 

[Eli]

My dad was a sheetrock finisher for 35 years, and is what he would do is take some regular black plastic sheeting and wad it up so that it was in the shape of a flat-topped mushroom, with the stalk being the "handle".

Dab the top in mud, and then dab it on your ceiling. Presto! Whether this will look anything like the previous texture depends on how they originally did it, though.

 

[dirtboy]

I've used white paint, both brush & spray with great success.

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: hanoverphist
they sell popcorn spray cans at home depot, ive had fairly decent results with that. but, the stain may pop back thru over time, which would suck. personally i hate the acoustic ceiling, i have plaster ceilings.

I used the spray and for a while I could barely see that repair. It's right above my head now and I can't see it at all any more.

Caution: it can be messy so I hung trash bags around the patch area with thumb tacks, sprayed the area and then removed the tacks.It worked well. Cover the floor as well.

 

[daniel49]

ok, thx for all the ideas

 

[iRONic]

Originally posted by: 49erinnc
Wet entire ceiling with spray bottle, scrape off all of the popcorn, sand/compound/caulk any trouble areas and repaint for a nice, contemporary, smooth surface.

My house is popcorned and I hate it. One of these days I'm going to scrape it all off for a better and less dated look.

Yup! Our addition is popcorn-free and loverly!

 

[mercanucaribe]

1. Get one of those jiffy pop things and take off the lid.
2. Put it on a portable stove, and place them under the ceiling area.
3. Paste some glue liberally on the ceiling.
4. Pop the popcorn!

 

[LordSnailz]

remove it?

 

[Shawn]

What's the point of the popcorn on ceilings anyway?

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: Shawn
What's the point of the popcorn on ceilings anyway?

It diffuses echos, but the real reason is because it hides shoddy sheetrock/mud work.

And, it takes mere minutes to spray a whole ceiling as opposed to knock down texture which you have to let dry halfway and scrape over with a mud knife.

 

[Rage187]

the spray cans are so messy, make sure you cover everything and expect to get covered.

plus it stinks.

 

[bctbct]

Originally posted by: Shawn
What's the point of the popcorn on ceilings anyway?

accousitcs

 

[bctbct]

They make a product that comes in a milk carton shaped container that works fairly well. It contains powered sheetrock mud and the popcorn, mix up and apply with a brush. I have never had luck with the spray cans, its just foam that "droops" to mimic the rough texture.

If you ever want to get rid of the tecture check to see if it has been painted. If its been painted its a terrible task.

Otherwise wet the ceiling with with a hudson sprayer, the proper amount of dampening will allow the material to be peeled off. If you wet it too much it is easy to gouge the paper of the sheetrock and extensive repairs must be made before paint or applying knock down finish.

Either way all the joints should be skimmed before you do either to assure a nice smooth appearance. Avoid sanding because knock down will not stick very well.