Dry wall spray finish issue

[Bob Rufener]

Our house is 35 years old and the garage is drywalled with a sand finish sprayed on at the time of installation. I painted the walls and ceiling a number of years ago and decided it was time to freshen it up. When I started to roll the paint onto the ceiling, the original spray on finish started coming off as I was rolling the paint across it. I tried a few areas with the same problem. I also noticed that, if the finish did not come off right away, I could see it bubbling up as it was losing adhesion to the drywall. Yikes, what a mess. I stopped painting and scraped a bit with a wide putty knife. The spray coating came off rather easily except where the drywall had been taped and mudded over the seams and the screw heads. I never had any problems before and the roof never leaked either.

Does anyone have any ideas as to why this happened and/or a solution to the problem. Will I have to scrape the whole ceiling? Is there a better way. Also, would kilz be a good paint to use as a primer since I am down to bare drywall except for seams and screw heads?

Thanks for any guidance.

[Dave Storm]

My experience is about the same as yours. The material on the ceiling sounds like the sprayed popcorn finish that was popular years ago before the knockdown finishes became the style. At our church, we just finished painting the ceiling in the fellowship hall and we first tried to roll on paint and had the same problems that you are having. We eventually used an airless and sprayed 2 coats and got good coverage. One coat left streaks in the finish that were noticeable.

In my kitchen in a rental house, I scraped the popcorn finish with a wide taping knife and then applied a knockdown finish over the resulting rough base. Turned out good and is still solid after 5 years.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Dave S

[Joe Pelonio]

Sounds like the finish was applied without priming the drywall first. I'd scrape it all off and either rent a gun or buy the smaller version that allows you to apply the spatter or orange peel finish using a material that's like a thinner version of joint compound. I have done this on almost all rooms here that had the popcorn ceiling. (not asbestos).

[Craig Matheny]

You can do a few things first spray the stuff lightly just to dampen the coating with water using a Hudson style sprayer then take a 6" knife scrape it all off this will help where it was taped and soften the mud to allow easy removal I would assume it is after the early 60's so should be asbestos free. When finished if you have a home depot or a rental yard for about 60.00 you can rent a texture machine. Buy your self a bucket of general purpose mud take out half mix with water to a semi thin cream load it in the gun and spray the walls once you get started 2 hours your done we use to do 2500 sq home in a day. Not sure how much mud you need but buy one bucket and the rest in the cardboard boxes mix what you need return the unused boxes just keep them clean. I have been doing construction for the last 30 years modifying homes for the disabled so if you have any question PM me. Good Luck