That's interesting...I didn't realize it was a regional thing. I'm on the east coast, we have textured ceilings but smooth walls...that seems to be the norm around here. As I mentioned earlier, I plan on replacing the textured ceilings in our house w/smooth. I tried to clean our ceiling once (wiping w/damp cloth to get dust down w/o spreading it b/c of allergies & asthma here) and the texture started to come off. I don't know if it's supposed to do that, but it did in our house. And the nail pops! I think they would be difficult to repair and we have several in our ceilings. [I hope that's not a bad sign structure-wise!] And then there are the soda stains on the ceiling that I haven't been able to get rid of...DH & DS were playing around shaking soda bottles and the inevitable happened! [Actually, that's gone now as it was in the kitchen and we currently have no kitchen ceiling!] All in all, I think the smooth ceilings are easier since they can easily be sealed & repainted if you have stains on the ceilings...

This is a stipple "effect texture on the drywall. There are many ways of achieving this. I invite you to visit my site http://www.handymanaustintexas.com If you email me I will give you ideas and ways for you to make different types of textures on your drywall repairs. Texture ing is a great and affordable way to add value to your home. If you learn to do this yourself, it may not hurt to do a remodel on your home, and do this throughout your house! Here is a link that might be useful: JCK Home Services Handyman

Hello Blanco1, are you going to have to replace the ceiling or just the plaster finish? I had a similar problem except i had to replace the sheetrock ceiling and then replaster the ceiling. To get those swirl mark's you can use any tool that makes the desired swirls you like, and how "rough" or "smooth" of an apperance you are after. sponge's, paint roller's , finishing trowels all can give you a swirl effect. What we did was take a piece of sheet rock that was left after fixing the ceiling, and we expieremented on it using plaster and every tool we could get our hands on to make it look like we desired. we ended up sticking with a regular sponge and then to smooth it out we let it dry and ran over it with a trowel knocking some of the texture down. Good luck with your project and dont forget to look online for some tip's and pictures if you get in a bind. Chris

Wow, thanks for all the responses! It certainly is interesting to see the regional differences - even in different states of New England! My house was built in 1969-70, and acoustic ceiling was the norm. From the link that Pharoh shared, I have the "perlite". When we added on in 2001, I had them do the ceilings in the perlite to match. It really doesn't bother me, I chuckle when I watch on HGTV the people who complain about the "popcorn" ceilings. But, even though I don't really care that my ceilings are popcorn, I was not happy to see the swirls - which looked like the "mud swirls" in Pharo's link. Part of it was that I wasn't expecting it, and part of it was that I just didn't like it. Interestingly, I was sharing my story with my manager, and she said that they did her ceilings (NH lake house built in the last 10 years) in what sounded like the skip trowel or maybe even the spanish knife. Then I told my co-worker, and she described that her NH home built 10 years ago what sounds like the sand swirl. I am happy with what they did today. It's the "skip trowel" from the link, except a bit more subtle. I know I could have pushed it and insisted on the smooth, but this is really ok with me. It will be a looong time before I can scrape of the popcorn in the other rooms (if I even do - do you know that there was asbestos in that stuff in the 70s??). Circuspeanut - when we moved in here, the ceilings were indeed yellowed, I believe from the smoker who had lived in the house (but had been dead for ~10 years). But, I'm not sure it was anymore yellow than it would have been if it were a smooth ceiling. But painting is a b*tch! I have painted 4-5 of the ceilings in my house now, and getting into all those pepples is tedious. Also, at this age, it has started to peel off in some places of the ceiling - looks awful. Growlery - we too have skimcoated whole rooms in our 1st home and areas of this home. It can be done, but it's a lot of work for an amature - DH spent weeks and still it had imperfections - and the dust! Ugh. I can't imagine doing it with your head bent back at a 90 degree angle. I think it costs more because it's more work. A mom2threeboys - I like your ceilings and walls, they look great. It looks a lot like my ceiling does now.