Painting Popcorn Ceilings, Part I | Southwest Florida Painting

Are you looking at your popcorn ceilings in your home and wondering how in the world can this popcorn ceiling be painted?  “It is so dirty and discolored, and rough, all I want to do is brighten up the room.  It can't be that difficult,” you think to yourself.

You’d be right – it’s not that difficult, if you get professional help. This week, we’ll talk about one option: painting popcorn ceilings with rolling.

Rolling Popcorn Ceilings

Popcorn ceilings can be painted, either by a roller or you can spray paint them. Spray painting them is less aggravating but is very labor intensive. They do make special rollers that can be used; however in my experience, depending on the condition of the popcorn, many times when rolling a popcorn ceiling the popcorn comes loose from the ceiling and clogs up your roller leaving a flat spot in the ceiling.

If you have a small closet, and you want to brighten it up, we usually just use a small 4-in. 3/4 nap roller cover to roll the paint on the ceiling, then throw away the roller when we are finished.  You will never get all of the loose popcorn out of the roller. Check your local paint store or Home Depot to see if they sell popcorn roller covers; they usually come in a 9-in. roller cover.

Always keep in mind, if your home was built before 1977, there may be asbestos in the popcorn ceilings.  If it was built before 1977, as long as you do not disturb the popcorn and create dust you will be okay, and spray painting ceilings does not create dust.  If you are not sure and want to test the popcorn, contact your local EPA to see how it can be tested and what you should do to test an area.

Is spray-painting popcorn ceilings a better option? Next week, we’ll cover spray-painting and the advantages of that method.

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