I am (finally!) down to the last room in This Old House for remodelling. The original ceiling is sheetrock, but it has had 1 foot-square acoustical tile put up with liquid-nails type adhesive.

The acoustical tile has GOT to go. Problem is, the tile rips out and leaves the gobs of adhesive stuck to the old sheetrock.

The VERY LAST thing I want to do is tear down the old sheetrock, because the attic above was treated for a bat infestation with DDT years ago. Not to mention 100 years of spiders and mouse turds...

So, my question is what are the odds that I can scrape off the glue goobers? I realize I'll likely tear the paper on the sheetrock (and yes, it's sheetrock, from a remodelling in the 50's) but if I can get it reasonably clean, I plan to skim-coat the works with plaster and then seal and paint.

Or, Plan B, if I can get the original sheetrock reasonably clean, I'll screw up another layer of fresh rock to give me a paintable surface.

I'm thinking if I take an ice spud (like a hoe, only the blade is in the same plane as the handle) and put a bit of an edge on it, I may be able to scrape the goobers off.

Anybody tried something like this, or have a better idea?