How to Remove Popcorn Ceiling

Popcorn ceilings were popular ceiling designs during 1960s. However, these days, they are not so much in trend and many people do not like having a popcorn ceiling. Removing popcorn ceiling is an easy, but a messy job. Many of the popcorn ceilings contain asbestos. Asbestos can cause health problems, so one should always ensure whether the popcorn ceiling contains asbestos before removing the popcorn ceiling.

How to Check Whether the Popcorn Ceiling Contains Asbestos
Use a spray bottle or a pump sprayer that contains water. Spray some water on four different small portions of the ceiling. Scrape out the small patches of these moistened portions with the help of a putty knife and put these samples into separate polythene bags. Send these samples to the lab to verify if the ceiling contains asbestos.

NOTE: It is strictly recommended that if your popcorn ceiling contains asbestos, you should hand over the task of removing it to a professional.

Steps to Remove Popcorn Ceiling
If your popcorn ceiling does not contain asbestos, you can remove it by yourself. The equipment you'll require for the same, are given below:

• Spray Bottle or Pump Sprayer
• Masking or Plastic Papers
• Safety Goggles
• Trowel or Wall Scraper or Putty Knife
• Ladder

Preparing for the Process
There are a lot of tasks that you need to do before starting the actual removal of the popcorn ceiling. Given below are some prerequisites one should do before removing the popcorn ceiling.

• Shift all the furniture of the room to another room.
• Ensure that all the power supplies of the room are switched off.
• Cover the walls with a 2-inch thick plastic sheets and cover the floor with masking or contractor's paper.
• If there are any fan and light fixtures on the ceiling remove them.
• To ensure safety, cover the electricity outlets with duct tapes.

Moistening the Popcorn Ceiling
Once you are done with all the preparatory steps, you can start with spraying water on the ceiling. You can use a spray bottle or a garden pump sprayer for the same. Do not wet all the ceiling at once. Instead, work with sections of the ceiling (5 feet by 5 feet area recommended). See that you do not over-wet the popcorn ceiling. Water will help loosen the adhesive bond and the scraping process will be easy.

Scraping the Popcorn Ceiling
Now, wait for 15 minutes after spraying water on the popcorn ceiling. Let the water get soaked properly into the ceiling. Before you start the removal of popcorn ceiling wear a goggle and a mask. Use a ladder to reach the ceiling. Ensure that you use a standard mask that is usually used for paint removal and has filters. Scrap the ceiling with the help of trowel, scraper or a knife. See that you do not damage the seam while scraping the ceiling. Scrape it lightly and drag your scraping tool along the popcorn. Scraping becomes easier if the air in the room is dry, as against when it contains moisture. Similarly, remove the popcorn from the remaining part of the ceiling.

Repairing the New Ceiling
Once you finish off with the removal of popcorn from every part of ceiling, sand the ceiling using a pole sander. Repair the minor damages due to scraping. Fill the patches and rough spots created during sanding or scraping. Apply skin coats of joint compound to fill in the low spots, if any. Apply prime coats and paint the ceiling with required color scheme that will match the walls. Now, clean all the mess, roll up the contractor's paper laid on the floor. Remove the plastic sheets from the wall very carefully.

So, popcorn ceiling removal is not difficult and you have to devote just a day for the same. Now, when you know how to remove a popcorn ceiling, get rid of the patches or the damaged ceiling. However, it is important that you ensure whether there is asbestos present in the popcorn ceiling.