I don't know of a way to remove the stains, someone else might. If it were me, I would use Kilz on the spots and then paint just the affected areas. If you get a good match on the paint, with the swirl ceiling, the touched up areas should not show. I did this on a flat ceiling (no swirls, just drywall) and you could not tell where the touch up paint was.

Todd

Thanks, Todd. I've done a fair amount of researching and the consenus is that the only way to get rid of them is to cover them up with Kilz or something similar. I'm going to let the spots dry and give it a shot. Thankfully the areas are near the corner that's least noticed in the room.

My best trick is if the ceiling was white or whitish at one point, after using kilz, mix your white paint with some strong boiled tea. The tea helps add that "dinge" that tends to creep in years after painting bright white. If you can get the color close enough, feather out to help it blend in even more. This generally works for me.... but not always.

I had success with removing several small brown water stains from my living room ceiling by dabbing bleach on the affected areas with a sponge until the stains disappeared. It may take several applications. Be sure to cover anything that could be damaged with plastic and wear rubber gloves.

I have fixed the water leak problem but need to remove the water stain. My ceiling is a "small popcorn" texture, so the color (white) and texture must be worked with. I've tried bleach to remove the stain and that works but the texture also rubs away. The stain blocker may cover it too but I still must match the color on the small areas to avoid repainting the entire ceiling! Any ideas? I may to eventually repaint the entire ceiling to have a quality appearance.

I found a product similar to the one mentioned by brian7972ri above. On the Home Depot site I searched for Kilz and there is a product called Kilz Upshot. It is a spray can with a vertical nozzle. It sprays a stain sealer on the ceiling. It says it's fast drying so you can paint within a half hour after using it. I'm going to try and locate some and give it a try. It lists the price at $4.98 a can.

I used ordinary Kilz on a textured ceiling with a brush but dabbed it on, with a vertical motion. No damage and it sealed it well. I then sprayed the ceiling with an airless sprayer. Looks fantastic.

Take a tip from me: Do all your ceilings before you move in, if you, like me just bought the place. Lots less masking. Then paint your walls, THEN move in, wish I'd followed my own advice ;)

I had a ceiling stain from a roof leak. I repaired the roof and sprayed the dry stain spot with Tilex, which contains bleach. It completely removed the stain. Be sure and cover any carpet or furniture to protect from over spray. This was a cheap and easy fix.

If you apply anything to a 'popcorn' ceiling (paint or bleach), I prefer using a 1" nap roller pad. It won't nock the texture off and reduces the chance of splatter. Painting over semi wet paint will pull texture off if you're not careful. Get enough paint in and on your pad and roll the excess off. Good luck.

thanks for the tips. i had a leak from the apartment above me and it left terrible stains on the ceiling in my bathroom. cant wait until i have my own house!

Simply mix bleach, in a spray bottle, 3 parts of water to one part bleach. Spray the affected area and allow to dry. Repeat until stain is gone.

I I tried detergent and then I tried bleach and neither of these worked. Then I used the Kilz Upshot as previously suggested. It worked perfect. Just followed the directions and after painting over the area u cannot tell there was a stain.

Bleach can only remove some stains.

It will not touch others.

The bigger problem is that you do not know until you try, and it can affect paint colors also.

That leaves you with a white splotch to then touch up.

Hello,
I have read your post.First and most important step is to fix the source of the stain.Before you remove the stain, you will have to find what is causing the stain. usually, the cause is a water leak or the collection of water on your roof.

I ran across this site because I wanted to find the best way to remove 3 water stains that were about 8 inches in diameter. I've used bleach and kiltz (color didn't quite match) in the past on stains like this. I tried bleach on these stains and it only lightened them. I don't know why but I decided to spray(while blotting with a towel) them with Clorox Chlorine Free Oxi-Magic Multi-Purpose Stain Remover and the stains started to disappear upon contact.

kwoj2 Your method using Oxy multi purpose cleaner worked well enough that I don't need to paint ! Thank You for your suggestion!

hi!!! thank you for this forum. gave me the push i needed to try a bleach solution. i used clorox w/bleach all purpose cleaner. totally worked on my newly rain stained ceiling!!! 5 minutes. wear glasses......the fumes were strong. 30 year old popcorn ceiling. its going to take 2 applications for some spots around light fixture.