Redoing my office ceiling

[Nader Hachem]

Hey BP

In my home office i has this popcorn ceiling that kept peeling and falling off so I decided to remove it and get rid of it myself. I’m also done with removing it and there’s this thin layer of paint/glue(?) left In some portions of the ceiling. How would I get rid of that? And do what would you guys recommend doing this ceiling with. Sanding and painting over, drywall and paint, etc..

Trying to post a pic but not sure if I can here..

[Jim K.]

There are a couple of ways, but this is what I'd do for solid long-term results. Buy a paint respirator with organic vapor cartridges. Buy a small box of TSP detergent powder from Home Depot. Buy a sprayer and a sponge mop and a soft siding brush. Mix up a gallon of solution and apply to the ceiling with a sponge mop. Scrub with the siding brush. Let it sit for twenty minutes, then sponge-mop it off. Use the sprayer to wet the ceiling down again, go over it again with the sponge mop to get rid of the TSP residue. Let dry.

Put on your respirator, open a gallon of Kilz original oil-based primer. Prime the ceiling with it using a short-nap roller. Rollers made for solvents and epoxy coatings work well, mohair is incredibly expensive but works best. Let dry at least 2 hours.

Repair any gouges or problems you see in the ceiling with all-purpose joint-compound. Let dry, add second layer of compound if necessary, let dry. Roll on a second coat of oil-based primer. The idea is to sandwich the joint-compound repairs between layers of oil-based primer.

Paint as desired after two hours. The stink off the Kilz is going to be heavy for a while, even if you paint it right after. Kilz also makes a low-odor version, works almost as well as the regular stuff. There's also Kilz Restoration, a very-expensive water-based variety, not as good, but slightly less stinky. There's a newish water-based coating for residues aimed at the DIY market called called Zinsser Gardz, which in my view isn't anywhere near as bulletproof in these residue situations as cleaning with TSP and oil-based primer. Zinsser also makes a prohibitely expensive shellac-based pigmented adhesion primer called B-I-N. This is one of the biggest ripoffs n DIY painting (like practically every Zinsser product aimed at the DIY market) because straight dewaxed shellac outperforms it for 1/2 the price -- all you need to do is paint three coats of paint over the shellac instead of two.