First I want to say we did achieve a nice result by leaving some of the texture, but cleaning up the hangers. It is now more of a Knock-Down or Stucco type of appearance.

Now I’d like to say that the sander I used was much too heavy as we nearly killed ourselves doing this job! I think the little orbital sander is four or five lbs. But when you are holding it up over your head for two days… Ouch. It took us about 2 hours to do a small bedroom (avg.) and about a day to do the living room, dining room, and kitchen. So if you are going to attempt this go for the lightest sander you can find that seems like it is up to the job.

We preceded the sanding by using a wide blade putty knife to scape off the first batch of ugly hangers. This sometimes popped off a bit of plaster/compound to the sheetrock underneath but we can patch or paint right over it. I believe that helped move it along. Also be careful not to stay in one spot too long since we did grind through to the paper more than once. (side effect of exhaustion?) We used a huge box fan to help exhaust the dust. The googles and dust mask combo really stunk. The googles fog up almost right away. I’d stick with safety glasses next time. Or one of those face masks dental hygenists use.

Good luck if you decide to try this. If you can afford it, just remove it however you can and re-rock the place. It may cost more and take longer but it is less of a comprising fix.

Now for the reno…

I’ll be sending ceiling samples shortly, hopefully no asbestos will be found…

I sent away samples this morning to Western Laboratories (www.asbestostesting.com). It was real easy to gather than sample. Hopefully, the test comes back negative. I’ll post a follow-up with my experience with Western.