Walls and Ceilings - New Homeowner needs help!

Hello! My husband and I just purchased our first house and we have lots of ideas but no experience.

I've read through many of the posts and have gotten an idea of where to start but I'm still a little nervous. Sorry to duplicate other posts but I want to make sure we are on the right track.

What type of sander do you recommend using to remove texture from the walls? The walls are not heavily textured, I think the texture is possibly a result of several bad paint jobs.

The ceiling has a light acoustical texture (not as heavy as I would consider popcorn). The texture did not come off easily after spraying with water and scraping. It appears that it has been painted. Since the texture is not very heavy would it be better to just sand instead of trying to scrape?

After we remove the existing texture from the ceiling and walls, I suppose we'll need to apply a coat of primer before painting, right?

Thanks for any input.

Linda: welcome to the forums. I think what you have is a knock-down finish, and removing it won't be easy. Unlike a popcorn ceiling that you can spray and scrape, the knock-down is splattered on with a hopper, and "knocked-down" with a wide taping knife, then painted. Unless it is ugly, I would not attempt to try removing the ceiling knock down, as you will probably ruin the sheetrock in the process. Now as for your walls, if you say it appears to be from bad paint jobs, I would get a quarter sheet palm sander and use sanding screen on it. You can find inexpensive ones at the home centers, and they will probably last a lifetime for you.
Post back if we can help further.

Personally I wouldn't use a sander on the walls. If it can't be sanded good enough with a pole sander I would skim a thin coat of joint compound on the wall to smooth it out. The same can be done for the ceiling - just a lttle more work.

I hate to sand but if sanding works for you - GREAT, if not skim coating isn't all that difficult. Basically you take a broad knife to both apply and remove the j/c, leaving just enough mud to fill the defects.

Thank you both for the advice.

Chandler: The texture in both bedrooms came off easily when sprayed with water. There was nice smooth drywall underneath all that junk. I was careful but still tore the paper in a couple spots. Should I apply a thin coat of joint compound over the tears?

Since the living room ceiling has been painted, we are going to leave it for now and possibly install these ceiling panels: http://www.armstrong.com/resclgam/na/ceilings/en/us/prod_detail.asp?itemId=44895.0

Does anyone have thoughts on this product?

Marksr: For the walls, a friend loaned us a rotary sander and we used that to smooth out the faux finished walls. I'm sorry I do not know what a pole sander is, I'll need to google it. Skim coating the entire wall makes me really nervous! The wall doesn't look too good but it feels smooth and we have not done any additional damage to the drywall. We are going to apply a coat of primer to the walls and then fix the spots that need repaired.

There is some dust on the walls from sanding. I'm sure it is best to wipe the walls down before applying the primer. Is there anything special we should use or is plain water ok?

One more question, several of the corners have been chipped and the metal is exposed. Can we use joint compound to cover these chips?

Thanks again for your advice. I really appreciate it.

A pole sander is just a piece that holds that paper attached to a pole with a swivel joint. Used by all drywall finishers, can be found in the drywall section. Basically used for light sanding of joint compound - the pole makes it easier on your back and no need for ladder.

Repairing the tears may be as simple as applying j/c on them but may require having loose paper cut out, priming the raw gypsum and then patching with j/c. The corner chips can also be repaired with j/c

A damp rag works well for removing the sanding dust. Sometimes sweeping the wall with a broom is sufficent. Remember paint doesn't stick well to dust.

Skim coating isn't all that difficult. If need be you can section the wall into managable squares, skim coating in a checker board pattern, going back and skim coating the undone squares once the others are dry - which would be about the time you finish with the first set of squares.