popcorn/stop finish scraping -- how much to spend?

Question

Just bought a 3/2 rental I'm updating. It has STOMP/STRIPPLE ceiling texture

Anyone have any experience hiring someone to do this? I tried on my own and it was easy enough but I wanted to kill myself after an hour.

How "professional" do I need to have a scrape job done?

I feel like its fairly simple--spray the ceiling w/ some water and scrape down the texture. then skim where you need to and paint it flatI ask bc I've gotten 4 quotes:

-$500 to scrape and skim if needed

-$400 to scrape and up to $300 to finish/skim

-$1750 to scrape and skim 2 coates

-$1375 to scrape and skim

Such a huge gap. is there enough to mess up here that i'd need to pay over $700 for 865' of ceiling to scrape and skim?

Ben Raygor · Answer

I'm not a handy guy, but when rehabbing my home last year, scraping the old popcorn off was the easiest task on the list.  I think a $50/room quote just to scrape ceilings seems reasonable and not seriously risky if there aren't any high ceilings and every room isn't huge.  Many people could scrape a small bedroom in less than 30 minutes.  Just make sure they are using a mist sprayer instead of a jet stream from a hose, and make sure it's clear on who is cleaning up their mess.

Sean Kelly · Answer

well thats what I mean -- its not a complicated job. Just strenuous and intensive. Its really manual labor. Spray the ceiling w/ water, wait 30min, and scrape it. if someone is willing to do it for for .50/ft why not? Thats what I'm trying to gauge here -- risk:reward.

Kathleen Leary · Answer

Ooooof. I've scraped a LOT of popcorn ceilings - I sure wouldn't do it for $50/room. You might get what you pay for!

Sean Kelly · Answer

great tip thank you -- it was built in 02

any insight on pricing/how serious i should take this w/ a hardcore drywall guy vs. some guys who scrape rooms for $50/room?

Aaron McGinnis · Answer

If the house was built prior to 1980, test for asbestos - it was a very common additive to stipple.