Walls and Ceilings - Taking Down Popcorn Ceiling

I'm in the process of taking down the popcorn ceilings in the house I just purchased. I went out and purchased a hopper and sprayer to hook up to my air compressor. Does anyone have any time saving tips?

`Easiest way I've found to get rid of it is to spray it thoroughly with a handheld garden sprayer - once soaked, it scrapes off relatively easily with a 6 inch scraper. Unless, of course, it was painted over with a water resistant paint, in which case I have to scrape the bumps off prior to soaking it so the water can get underneath the paint. It's a messy job - but certainly do-able....

The better you cover everything up both when removing the popcorn and applying the new texture will save a lot of clean up time. Both jobs are very messy.

I am assuming you are going to use the hopper to do a knockdown finish rather than reinstalling popcorn. As mentioned, removing the popcorn is relative easy unless it has been spraypainted. The knockdown will make for a better surface once painted.

Thanks for the tips. I applied ceiling texture in a test room Wednesday. I hung plastic, sprayed the ceiling with water and scraped the old popcorn off. I work in a shop that does GIS so I had access to 42" and 60" wide maps that would have gone to the trash. Those went on my shed and were used to practice spraying the texture with the hopper. After practicing, texture was applied. I did the clean up.

I took some time off around the Thanksgiving holiday to do projects and move into my new house. So, I'm going to attempt to get the second floor done on Friday. I'm trying to get as much of this done without the furniture there. Should be fun.