Hot take: My brother-in-law said to just paint over the old popcorn ceiling and I should have known better

He swore up and down that a thick coat of paint would seal it and stop the flaking (he said he did it in his house in Rio Rancho). So I spent a whole Saturday rolling this heavy texture paint over my living room ceiling. Fast forward three months, and now it's cracking and peeling in big sheets, way worse than before. I'm looking at probably $800 to get it scraped and redone properly. Has anyone else had a well-meaning tip from family totally backfire on a repair?

2 comments

2 Comments

emma_mitchell1d ago

Ugh, that's the worst. Free advice from family always seems to cost you more in the long run. I've learned to just smile, nod, and then look up a professional tutorial.

evan_carr1d ago

Man, I feel that. My uncle told me the same thing about my bathroom ceiling. I ended up having to scrape it anyway, but what saved me was using a garden sprayer to really soak the popcorn first. Let it sit for like 20 minutes, then it came off in huge, wet clumps with a wide putty knife. Still a messy job, but it went way faster and didn't make nearly as much dust.