Starting point of removing the texture. I picked off the middle section quickly thinking the rest would go quickly.
This weekend was more struggling with popcorn removal. I tried using a spray bottle with warm water, vinegar, and detergent to soften up the texture before removing. It did work to get the top layer of the texture off, but I found it made it harder to get all of the texture off once the textured top layer was removed. So I kept flipping between dry and wet scraping. The scraping took its toll on my body too with my hands getting nicked up and shoulders tightening up. I tested the layers a few times for lead and surprisingly nothing came back positive.
More progress.
As the plaster exposed the underlying plaster I was impressed with how smooth hard the plaster was. The surface is so uniform it's hard to believe it was troughed on. As the texture came off, it also showed a large crack going down the length of the ceiling under the stairs. Add that to the list to deal with later. As my arms and hands got sore from scraping I'd alternate between the ceiling and picking staples out of the bedroom where we removed carpet.
Most of the texture off with the plaster and nice big crack going down the middle.
The progress was super slow and after hours of work I got most of the texture off just a small section of the ceiling under the stairs.With at least 3 more full rooms to hit, this pace isn't looking good.
