How much height do you need to drop the ceiling - battens and gyprock? What is the minimum depth of this kind of fake ceiling? Thanks for any advice ... reading the above has been helpful so thanks for that too.

Go for the floating ceiling.

minimum legal ceiling height is 2400mm (some exceptions with raking ceilings) - so if you have the room after battens and ceiling sheet thickness then you will be OK.

thanks for the response. However, I don't know what thickness standard battens and ceiling sheets are. what height would I lose with this?

Standard timber battens are 35mm, metal "top hats" are 40mm, gyprock sheeting comes in 10mm or 13mm. I would suggest you only need the 10mm as there will not be the weight of insulation and the like on it, so minimum would 45mm thick, maximum would be 53mm. Measure your ceiling height - don't forget to allow for any new floor finish thickness if you are installing new floors, and then see what height you have to play with.

Thanks so much for the detailed response - that's exactly the information I wanted. Much appreciated!

It is possible to replaster a vermiculite ceiling.

The ceiling in my 1970's apartment was too low to consider the option of re-sheeting so after reading these posts I obtained the contact details for the plasterer mentioned by Front Door Designs in an earlier post.

So very happy that I did.

It is a fantastic improvement. A very messy job but definitely worth it.

So happy to hear that you had a great result heytesbury2!

Go up top to "find pros" and put your information in the filter. Look at the reviews.

I have just purchased a unit with a vermiculite ceiling, and have found all the comments interesting. My ceiling height is 2430mm, so not sufficient to do the standard battens, but wondered if it is possible to remove channels of the vermiculite in the appropriate sections and attach timber battens in those areas, then attach plasterboard? The floor is tiled, but will be removed and retiled, and think I will lose about 5-10mm in doing that.

Any advice would be most welcome. I live in Brisbane, so any contact with a professional there would be very much appreciated.

My friend recently had her ceilings done by a company called Ceiling Resurfacing Australia. They apparently specialise in getting rid of popcorn ceilings without loosing any ceiling height. She spent ages researching painting over them and putting in a false ceiling, but this seemed to be a much better solution. She is really happy with the results. Really, really smooth with new cornices. Their website is www.ceilingresurfacing.com.au . She is in Sydney but I'm pretty sure they are in Brisbane as well.

David would you know how much your friend paid with Ceiling Resurfacing Australia?

Hi kitty... I too am in SYDNEY and I've been speaking to Matthew at the above-mentioned company ceiling resurfacing.... For me I have have been quoted approx 5.5k for approx 70m2. Will let you know the results in a few weeks! I'm very happy with how professional they have been so far.

Hi Beckythestylist, How did your ceiling resurfacing go? The apartment I’m moving into next year had similar floor area and I need to get rid of the popcorn ceiling and opt for a smooth surface. Also if you can share if Ceiling Resurfacing would cover up AC, fire alarm and other items in the house before removing the ceiling, if hiring a bin was required to dispose the waste and if they vacuum your place before handing over to you.

Merivale Chang, reiterating, check if it contains asbestos before doing anything. It is appalling to keep reading of major decontamination jobs as a result of no-one checking for asbestos in the material they are working with. There was another case in the news only a week or so ago. Popcorn ceiling is one of the materials that did contain asbestos if it was manufactured in a certain era.

Understood Macyjean. I wanted to get the services of Ceiling Resurfacing as they have a stellar review in their website. Just wanted to hear other’s experience about their services before booking them to do a sample test of the ceiling first before they proceed with resurfacing.

Hi, I've just bought my first apartment and it has the popcorn ceiling. At first i was told by a professional painter not to touch it. It has no asbestos. But now after reading this post I think I should seriously consider plastering over it. I found these guys online: Ceiling Resurfacing Australia. Waiting on a quote from them. If it provides soundproofing then I would rather not remove it. Has anyone had any experience with using Ceiling Resurfacing Australia? It's hard to find some reviews online.

Hi Naomi. We had ours done in August after doing lots of research. They were honestly great to deal with and did an amazing job. My partner has been in construction for many years and was blown away with the finish. They get an asbestos test before every job (thankfully mine was negative). I would recommend them to anyone wanting to get rid of it. The place felt so much bigger and brighter. Here is their Google reviews: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ceiling+Resurfacing+Australia/@-26.4417382,115.5071169,4z/data=!4m7!3m6!1s0x6b12a144935834a5:0x269927200736cd26!8m2!3d-27.6720912!4d133.7000017!9m1!1b1 Hope this helps and all the best!

Thank you Leslie. I received the quote yesterday: $6,000 for the resurfacing and almost $3000 for the painting. I don't think I'll have it removed as it provides soundproofing and being on the ground floor I'll need it. Resurfacing sounds ideal but not keen on the expense. Painting may just have to do. Dilemma.

Hi Naomi, thanks for updating us. What floor area is the $6k? I’d probably get Ceiling Resurfacing do the resurface coz it’s a specialize skill and they are the only one in Au that has access to that special lightweight compound. But for repainting, I’ll get a different supplier coz $3k painting cost is a bit too much in my opinion.

Hello I posted a few months ago and ended going through Ceiling Resurfacing Australia. Overall I am very happy with the finish - it was expensive but agree with Leslie it has made such a difference to the look and feel of my apartment. And i have also not lost any ceiling height. I paid $8,000 for a 2 bedroom, approx 80sqm but I’m in Canberra and trades are always more expensive here. Agree with Merivale don’t use Ceiling Resurfacing Australia’s painters or electricians - can definitely get cheaper. Vermiculite can contain asbestos though it’s unlikely. You just need to arrange a test which is easy. Couple of other observations from my experience with Ceiling Resurfacing Australia:

1) the flat really needs to be empty. I did the resurfacing before moving in.

2) they took twice as long as they said they would - 4 day job took two weeks. I’d given myself a month between settlement and moving in, so I was ok with this, but if you are pressed for time you need to hassle them.

3) the high price did not equate to great customer service unfortunately - not great with communication, didn’t tell me when everything was finished, they left a pile of rubbish in the middle of my lounge room, and were clearly mixing materials on my balcony as it was covered with white stuff. They also left my spare keys outside my front door in an area accessible to the public. This may have been the Canberra subcontractors, but the company did not seem to take responsibility for them. I would recommend regular inspections as the job progresses.

4) the cornice work was not great quality. it’s ok, but not consistent with the premium price. Again, I would insist on regular inspections before the job is finished.

happy to answer any other questions!

Hi Kitty, the points you’ve raised are very helpful and sets the right expectations. Will keep these in my mind when I get them to do my ceiling before I move in. Btw, would you be able to elaborate why it took them significantly longer? It’s more than 100% of the original timeline so keen to know if I need to watch out for this. My apartment is around 70 sqm so it’s quite close to your floor size.

Yes my 2 bedroom unit was just over 5k including gst for the whole unit but the painting was only just over 1k once they had done the resurfacing. I think it costs about 3k or more to paint the raw popcorn. Is that what you mean? The sound proofing was another reason I went with them as their system keeps it and my strata wouldn't let me scrape it off. I was doing mine to sell as the agent selling it said it can make a big difference. Once it was done I wish I had done it when I first bought it. lol

Well it looks likely I will get Ceiling Resurfacing Aust to do my apartment. If they can squeeze me in. I have a one bedroom 60sqm. It’s a big cost to have the ceiling resurfaced but if it adds resale value, light etc then perhaps this is better than just painting it.

Hi Merivale no reason was given for the delay - they weren‘t great with keeping me updated! I think it was probably that subcontractors had other jobs to do and they weren’t well organised. And because I had some flexibility they did not prioritise my job. The actual work only took a few days. But if your timeframe is tight, definitely keep on top of them. I would check in everyday. But I will caveat all of this by saying I am in Canberra - things are generally more expensive and service in generally worse than Melbourne or Sydney!

We have recently come across this thread and wanted to thank everybody for making the effort to give feedback and make your personal observations. After hearing the experience of Kitty H, we immediately investigated and wanted to share what we found.

1/ It is definitely easier for all concerned if the property in empty. Due to individual requirements though, we regularly provide our services at occupied properties, but as with any construction work an empty site is always preferable.

2/ Rarely does it ever take longer than 4 days to complete our works. Unfortunately in this case, the cornice contractor repeatedly misled our Sydney based supervisor about his attendance and this delayed the job. Work was started on Monday June 15 and was completed by the following Tuesday when the cornice was installed. (June 23 - a little over 1 week from the start date) The actual resurfacing completed by our own team was completed within a few days. The time it took to complete this project is not acceptable for our company.

3/ Our Sydney based supervisor provided us with copies of the sms communiques throughout the job. Although extensive, (around 50 sms's combined) the correspondence showed our supervisor initially communicated how the job was progressing but seemed to lack updates later in the job. Text messages show he was notified of the small pile of cornice trims on Wednesday afternoon at 2:14pm and by 3:34pm arrangements had been made for the offcuts to be put in a plastic bag and disposed of in the skip bin that was onsite. As suggested by Kitty H, unfortunately the cornice contractor let us down in many ways. This is still not acceptable for our company and good communication would certainly have made things better. Customer service is of the highest importance to us and we always appreciate it when clients contact us if there are any short-comings, which then allows us to rectify these in real time.

4/ Needless to say, we no longer use this contractor. We expect the the highest quality from all involved in providing our services and always willing to do whatever is needed to meet our clients expectations.

We offer an industry leading warranty and are more than happy to remedy any imperfections that are brought to our attention. It is also extremely unusual for our services to take more than 4 days. We would like to apologise to Kitty for not living up to our normally high level of customer service. We are happy to have this brought to our attention and appreciate the opportunity to be able to improve our customer service going forward.

As general information, the average 2 bedroom unit in Sydney costs around $5000 for our trademarked VermicuHIDE resurfacing system which includes supply and installation of cornices and a lifetime guarantee. The vast majority of projects are finished in 3 days. If our clients request, we can arrange painting and electrical services from trusted contractors. Depending on how far they need to travel, at times we need to pay them additional costs. Usually though, painting for the average 2 bedroom unit is a little over $1000 once resurfacing is complete. Before starting any job we make sure we have the surface tested by an authorised laboratory for asbestos. For more information, don't hesitate to contact our customer service team on 1300 223 433 or at www.ceilingresurfacing.com.au

Regards,

Tracy B

Customer Service Team at Ceiling Resurfacing Australia

To those who have used Ceiling Resurfacing and without cornice, did you end up needing to pain the wall too for any damages to your wall after resurfacing?

Hi Merivale no, no real damage to the walls and any residue seems to wipe/wash off quite easily. But I would let them know that you want to protect the paint on the walls. If you are not installing cornices, I think you might need to paint where the wall meets the ceiling. Just to make it tidy.

Thanks Kitty. That was helpful.

Had my popcorn/cottage cheese ceiling painted by Frank from Ceilings Resurfacing & he has done an incredible job. My home looks amazing now. Worth every penny & so glad I didn’t attempt to do it. Just painting the walls myself almost killed me 😂

That's a smart move and I'm glad your ceiling is beautiful now. Can't wait to have mine done.

Just wondering what the turnaround time was from getting a quote to them doing the work? Just trying to figure out timelines of when I can move in.

It took them 3-4days to complete the work. Better to speak with them directly. Depends on how big your space is

Hi Maru, depends on their availability but they can book you in after you pay the deposit. My 2 bedroom apartment resurfacing was done in 4 days, painting takes another day or two.

Adding plasterboard will have a n insulation and accoustic benefit, if it's a unit under another apartment add a layer of thin accoustic insulation.

OK cool, thanks for your replies everyone, will just ask them what their availabilities are. I think I will end up going with them since everyone seems to have had a good experience with them and I like the fact that I keep most of the ceiling height.

Just another question, did you let your strata know about the ceiling work? I can see on the website that they say it doesn't need strata approval but still seems like a fairly large job.

I emailed strata and was advised to notify my nearby neighbors about the resurfacing coz there’s a bit of sound. No approval required. Btw you do need to conduct an asbetos test before the team can commence work. The company recommended a lab in Brisbane that you send the samples in double zip lock bags, express post. Took 24-48hrs for lab to send me the report in pdf. I then forwarded that to Ceiling Resurfacing so they know which technique they’ll gonna do.

You can also ask the body Corp if there’s asbestos.

Thanks for the info, it has been very helpful. This is my first time doing any type of renovations so just gathering as much information as possible.