How to Get Rid of a Stippled Ceiling

Remove the furniture from the room, or push heavy pieces to the center and cover them with a tarp. Cover the floors and counters with drop cloths. Overlap the cloths by several inches to leave no gaps for debris and residue to penetrate and reach the floor.

Set a sturdy stepladder in a corner of the room. Lock both the brackets on either side of the ladder in the open position, or assign a helper to grasp the legs of the ladder and keep it from wobbling while you work.

Wear protective glasses and a face mask before ascending the ladder. Lightly mist the textured ceiling with water from a spray bottle. The surface does not need to be soaked, but it should be moist enough to loosen the adhesive and stipple application. Let the water soak into the textured ceiling for a couple of minutes before spraying a second application.

Position the blade of the drywall knife or joint compound knife at a 30-degree angle against the surface of the textured ceiling, at a corner. Push the edge of the blade into the ceiling to knock a section of the stipple off.

Scrape the stipple off the ceiling, working in small section until you cover the entire surface. Lightly mist stubborn sections of the stipple with water, and repeat the process of peeling them off the ceiling.

Remove the drop cloths from the room. Turn the ceiling fan on to its highest speed so it dries moisture that made its way through the stipple and onto the drywall ceiling.