Posts for Tag : Texture removal

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PART TWO-Painting a Textured Ceiling

This process in and of itself has caused many people problems, pain and cost.  You see the dirty little secret is that 95% of textured ceilings are installed incorrectly when the house is built.  All manufacturers of sheetrock, joint or patching compound and texture recommend that new sheetrock is primed prior to installing texture.  This step is usually skipped.  In modern home building, ceilings are very seldom primed prior to applying texture.  This practice creates major problems when you want to paint a textured ceiling.  Ceilings textures are water soluble and due to lack of a primer, they have very little adhesion to the new sheetrock.   Latex paints and primers are primarily water.  When the texture gets wet with the paint or primer the texture can fall off of the ceiling.  This is not pretty and can cause you to have to re-texture the complete ceiling.

Make sure all walls, flooring, furniture and all ceiling hardware such as lights are covered.  The most difficult items to cover are the walls.  We use 1.5” OR 2” Low adhesive masking tape by the 3M Company.  The tape must be installed very carefully at the wall ceiling joint. Line the tape up with the texture and firmly press the tape onto the wall.  We use a narrow 1.5” putty knife to secure the top edge of the tape to the wall at the ceiling line.  We leave the bottom edge of the tape loose if possible in order to tuck the plastic under that edge.  We use 12’ wide plastic on a 400’ roll to cover all the walls.  Again you tape the wall at the ceiling line then tuck the edge of the plastic under the bottom edge of the tape.  You then unfold the plastic to cover the walls all the way down to the floor.
Ready to paint?  First and foremost, test the existing texture to see if it has ever been painted, there are many ways to do this.  Try a putty knife edge first, gently scrape at the popcorn texture.  If it has never been painted it will fall off easily, almost like a powder.  You can even scrape it off with your fingernails.  If the texture seams soft like it has never been painted make a 2nd test.  Get a wet sponge and carefully gently wash a very small part of the ceiling.  If it turns to mud and or washes off immediately you have now confirmed that the texture has not been painted.  You must prime the ceiling first before painting it and you should spray the ceiling with an AIRLESS SPRAYER.  You can rent one of these at your local rental store.  You really should hire a contractor at this point.   If the ceilings have been painted before then most of the danger described above is passed. You may only need one coat of paint and you can roll the new paint onto the ceiling.  Use a heavy nap roller ¾”-1” nap.  Take your time don’t miss any spots.

Priming and Painting an unpainted textured ceiling.  Call your local contractor Lake Area Painting & Decorating or rent that sprayer and learn how to use it.  Suffice it to say in untrained hands you can create many more headaches than just water damage.  The process and technique for rolling and/or spraying will not be discussed here.

The safest primer to use in terms of your textured ceiling not falling down is an oil based or alcohol based primer/sealer.  However, if you don’t have a full face respirator you will be overcome by the fumes from the solvents.  We have found in careful hands we can use a quick drying primer like (Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3) or a slow drying Penetrating primer like (Zinsser-Gardz Problem Surface Sealer).  When you apply these primers DO NOT OVER APPLY!  If you saturate the popcorn texture it may fall.  You may want to test a small area first and let it dry.  This will ensure you have no problems.  You want to apply a very even uniform coat.  Once the primer has dried you can apply the finish paint.  You don’t need expensive paint for this.  Actually the cheaper the better, but make sure the color is what you want.  A good product for this is Super Hide from Benjamin Moore.  You can get this product at Abbott Paint and Carpet located in White Bear Lake.

Your best solution for painting your textured ceiling is to call your 5-star local painting company that has been in your neighborhood for almost 70 years, Lake Area Painting & Decorating.

Check back soon for our last blog post in the series – Removing and repairing damaged ceiling texture.

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Three Part Blog Series-On water damage/texture & painting repair caused by frost or ice dams

If you have good insulation and good ventilation you won’t get frost damage or ice dams.  Water damage is a serious issue that can cause thousands of dollars’ worth of damage.

If you do see a stain on your ceiling, usually it’s a dark spot or grayer spot when it’s wet.  When dry it’s that sickly dirty orange-yellow color and it may have some dark streaks mixed in.  You will need to solve the immediate problem.  If you remove the snow and ice from your roof you will have solved the short term problem.  If you decide to do this yourself, be careful!  Ice and snow on a steep roof with a long drop to the ground..do the math!  In addition to the dangers involved you can cause long term damage to your roof using a pickax and/or shovels.  The simple solution is to remove the snow and then use salt and lots of it.  Salt pucks or salt in a nylon sock or pantyhose seem to work well.  In some cases you will not need to climb onto the roof, this will allow the water to drain safely.  You can go online and find some of these products or you can hire a professional to steam or hot water blast away your ice dams.

Ok, so now the problem won’t continue.  The snow and ice are gone, but what about that ugly stain on your bright white ceiling?  When you first notice the stain watch it like a hawk.  The first question would be is the stain growing or getting larger?  If it is not growing then it’s not an immediate problem.  The stain can be as big as a dime and up to the size of a trash can lid without being a serious problem.  The more serious problems happen when the stain starts to change in shape.  Is the texture starting to droop, sag, fall off or crack etc.?  Is water starting to drip or run off the ceiling?  If so, it’s time to take more extreme action.  Water is building up above the ceiling and if you don’t eliminate that excess water it will move into other areas of your home.  You will need to drain away the excess water!  Get a couple of buckets, a ladder or stool and take action.  Find the nastiest looking spot and drive a screwdriver into the sheetrock or any hard pointy object will work.   You may need a hammer to break through the sheetrock ceiling.  Water will start to drip out of the hole you just made.  Capture the water into the bucket.  More holes are sometimes needed to remove the water.  More holes will also allow the ceiling to dry out thus eliminating the potential for mold.  The faster the ceiling dries out the less chance for mold.  Get some fans and heaters pointed at the problem right away to further aid the drying process.  In extreme cases make a larger hole, as large as your fist may be necessary to eliminate the water and dry out the ceiling.  Once the water is gone, the ceiling is dry and spring is here it’s time to repair the ceiling.

Check back soon for part two & three in our series on water damage/texture repair.