We have removed our share of popcorn ceiling texture from ceilings all over western New York. We use water to remove the ceiling texture, as its the safest, most efficient way to remove a popcorn ceiling. We have tried the sanding method, and while that does work, and is sometimes faster, multiple visits to the chiropractor after the fact is usually required so we don’t do that anymore. Imagine holding up a 25 pound broom, against your ceiling and moving it across the ceiling, taking care not to dig into the drywall. Its not easy, and literally is back breaking work.
Our way, while messier, is easier. And typically results in less over all dust, as well as negating the asbestos risk. We take a 2 gallon sprayer, fill it with warm water, and spray your ceilings til they begin to drip, then move to the next area, and then come back and hit the areas we started with. At that point, we take a 6″ putty knife and scrape off the texture.
If the ceilings have never been painted, we have a special tool that works extremely well to remove texture. However often the ceiling have been painted due to their age, theyre dirty, so naturally we want white ceilings, so about 50% of the ceilings we remove are painted. The water method stil works, just takes a bit more finesse.
Popcorn Texture is Often Used to Hide Defects
Often times, popcorn texture was applied to ceilings to hide damage. Such as in this case there was a fair amount of ceiling damage and over all ‘weirdness’ going on that required patching in addition to skim coating the entire ceiling
Here is Stacy working her drywall magic. This area required extensive patching.
Always looks really bad right before it looks amazing.
Professional Problem Solvers
We run into this from time to time. We tried using a quality, high build latex primer from Sherwin in this area, and well as you can see it didn’t work. We promptly returned it to Sherwin. Another disappointment. So we switched back to our tried and true oil primer from Sherwin.
Ceiling Skim Coating
Once the ceiling were primed, we skim coated them. Then sanded, then primed with oil primer (because it works) and then made touchups to our work.
Once we were happy with how the ceilings looked, we painted them. Came out really nice. In these photos, the ceiling paint was still drying. For whatever reason, the ceilings took forever to dry in this house.
Ceiling Painters
We also did the kitchen, hall, and master bedroom ceilings.
You would never know we had an issue around the staircase.
Master bedroom ceiling.. Complete with glitter!
I figured the job would take about a week to complete. However due to the drying issues we ran into, the total project ended up taking 7 days.
If you would like to discuss removing popcorn ceilings in your home, give us a call: 716-697-3560
Below are our most recent projects we have completed or are working on. Each post is authored by Carrigan Painting and contains about a dozen photos, and possibly a video. Problem > Solution > Results 716-697-3560
Williamsville NY. – We are back at this beautiful Village of Williamsville home to refinish the walls in the dining room. The walls were a textured mess when they moved in 10 years ago. It appears as though they were wallpapered at some point, and instead of fully removing the glue, the previous owner just… Read more: Williamsville Interior Painting and Skim Coating
A drywall patch in a plaster ceiling often stands out. The bigger the patch, the worse it is. We took on this job to bring about closure for this homeowner who had a major water leak in their living room ceiling that resulted in an unfinished ceiling repair from 6 months ago. A water leak… Read more: Cheektowaga NY: Drywall Patch in a Plaster Ceiling – Skim Coating
We are back for more interior painting in Orchard Park. This time we are repainting the trim in the rec room, stairs to the second floor, 90 or so spindles, and master bedroom/bathroom trim. We cleaned it, lightly sanded, cleaned it again, and then began applying the first coat of paint. The painted wood-work is… Read more: Interior Painting in Orchard Park – Part 3
As the author of The Carrigan Archives and President of Carrigan Painting, Dave shares expert insights on interior painting, ceiling restoration, and industry trends. He also personally manages Carrigan Painting’s website and YouTube channel, providing Western New York homeowners with valuable information and a firsthand look at the company’s craftsmanship.
With over 25 years of experience in residential construction, Dave specializes in high-end interior painting and ceiling repairs, often exceeding contractual obligations to ensure the highest level of craftsmanship. Our ability to maintain exceptional customer satisfaction in such a demanding field is a testament to our expertise, integrity, and dedication to quality.
For 15 consecutive years, Carrigan Painting has maintained an unprecedented 5-star reputation—an achievement nearly unmatched in the industry nationwide.
Almost all of the work we have completed since 2024 has been posted to this Archive.
We do not believe in using AI to create content when we create amazing content every day.
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Please note that we work primarily in northern Erie, and southern Niagara Counties.
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