Patching and Plastering - painting textured ceiling?

I'm moving into a new house that has a textured ceiling. I don't know what to call it, but it looks like overlapping semi-circle brush strokes. If I paint it, I'm sure that the design will show through. What are my options here? I hate the design and it must be repainted.

since you're wanting to cover up the texture, i've moved your question from Painting to Patching/Plastering, as i think there will be some skim coating involved!!

good luck!

You're right about paint not covering up a textured ceiling, we would mist the texture with water, allow that to stand a few mins, then scrape the texture off. Once this is done we skim coat the ceiling, allow that to dry fully, then sand smooth, apply a coat of primer and it's ready for paint. An easier & cheaper solution would be to just overlay new drywall over what you've got. Locate & mark all joists first, sand or scrape high spots in the texture, & use plenty of glue between the layers. In my area of the world this would run you about $350-$500 per room to have hired out, going the scraping & skimming method would start at $500 & go up, this could be considerably higher depending on where you're located in the country. :coffee:

Well, I've got about 700 sq ft of ceiling with this design. I would like to do it myself, if it's a reasonable job. How much for the materials alone, and are there any other options (besides rerocking the ceiling)?

troup

You could change to a different design. I think the one you have is one of lightest and easiest to cover up with something else. And if it has already been painted as in "I hate the design and it must be repainted" removing it might not be just a matter of spraying it with some water and scraping off the texture, especially if it is not ceiling paint[this is just my opinion]. Trying to scrape anything overhead is always a pain, and will usually lead to gouging and cursing. Skimcoating a wall is not the easiest thing to do and a ceiling would be harder than that, especially for someone who never did it before.

I would first see how difficult it was to get off. Try to take some off in a corner If it comes off easy I would go with the awesome ones approch if I thought I coud do a really good job on the skimcoating

If not Find out how much it would cost to drywall right over it vs paying for the other way. If its close go over it with new dryall. Of course this assumes it is possible to go over it. It will produce the best result