You Sure You Want Popcorn Texture On Your Ceiling?

Popcorn texture was very popular in the 70's and 80's. It was new and exciting to many, and you could even get it with "stars" in it - that glitter stuff.

I know, because I sprayed acres of popcorn texture on ceilings back then. Even gave them the glitter treatment when customers asked for it.

What no one then could foresee was the problems that would arise eventually with this particular ceiling texture.

cobwebs sifting particles stains dust collecting

Some people dealt with these problems as they showed up by painting the popcorn texture. Not always easy to do, but it improved things.

But let's say that you've seen the stuff in someone else's home, and you're keen on having it on one of your own ceilings. Is that possible?

(If at this stage, you are saying - WAIT! I want to take off my popcorn texture, not put some on. Okay, go to my page on doing just that, called Popcorn Ceilings

Sure. Popcorn texture can still be purchased in large bags. Everything is in there. Just mix with water, let soak awhile, then thin if necessary to get it to spray easily.

But there are some important things to know if you are going to do this yourself. (I would really recommend you get a professional to do it, but if you want an adventure, well ...)

You can rent small portable electric texture sprayers. They feature a hopper set on top of a pistol grip and texture ring. You adjust the texture ring to one of the larger apertures and adjust the trigger setting, if it has one. These things can only be ascertained by some experimentation.

Generally, your mix should flow easily. With my low pressure machine, if the texture will slip off my taping knife fairly easily as I dip it and hold it sideways, then I have the mix about right. But that's my machine. You will have to experiment to get things to work well with the particular texture sprayer you are using. You don't want the mix too soupy either. In that case, you won't get the proper coverage.

As I mentioned, one common problem with older popcorn ceilings is sifting particles. To prevent this happening eventually to your ceiling, stir some white texture compound into the water before you add in the popcorn from the bag. Doing this will firm up and strengthen the popcorn texture once it's dry. I would add about about a cup or two per gallon of water.

Spraying this stuff is pretty messy, so you should empty the room of all furnishings. Cover the floors well. Weight the plastic or tarps down, or tape them to the floor with duct tape or wide masking tape. Your wet goopy shoes will have a tendency to pull the floor coverings out of position if you don't do this. Mask the walls all around from ceiling to floor with light throwaway plastic. Use wide masking tape and press on it hard to get good adhesion. You will be spraying lots of moisture up there at the top of the walls, and you don't want the plastic to fall off your walls in the middle of your spraying operation. It has happened to me more than once!

You should be spraying over a WHITE ceiling. If this is new drywall or plaster, prime with a good coat of PVA drywall primer. If your ceiling is already painted with a color or antique white, you should repaint.

Spraying technique. Spray thinly over an area and then go back and hit it again to make it heavier. Don't try to get the correct thickness all in one pass. You are likely in that case to get a soupy drippy mess in one spot. You will see the practicality of this advice once you start, believe me. If you do get a mess, you can carefully rake it off and respray it. Keep the gun moving. You can't loiter.

You can spray popcorn texture over an existing texture, provided it is thin. Heavier ceiling textures will need to be skimcoated and primed first.

Well, that's about it. Have fun and good luck!

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