Greensboro-Popcorn-Texture-Removal Construction 919-742-2030

A quick guide to everything of everything we do when removing your popcorn ceilings, preparing for a new ceiling design, and how to paint the ceiling after the popcorn was removed

If you reside in Greensboro and your home built or last renovated before the 1980s it’s quite likely that you have popcorn style ceilings.

Often referred to as “textured ceilings” or “cottage cheese ceilings”, popcorn ceilings were once a popular feature in American suburbia. It phased out of use due to changes in decor trends, the frequent presence of asbestos, and the tendency for allergens and dust to gather in the crevices of the texture.

Popcorn ceilings were often used in hallways and bedrooms due to their acoustic absorption and echo prevention. In many cases, they were sprayed or painted on because the drywall and mudding job weren’t great and the texture hides the faults in the construction or renovation.

Whether you are considering painting the interior of your home yourself or hiring professional painting services, it is important to be informed and knowledgeable about your popcorn ceilings. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most common questions that arise about popcorn ceilings: home value, asbestos, removal, refinishing, and repainting.

Removing Popcorn Ceiling Will Increase Home Value?

A well-planned and executed renovation will very likely increase your home’s value. Something as simple as a new paint job can increase the street value of your home by a few hundred dollars.

Removing a popcorn ceiling will make a big difference to ensure that your home’s value increases. Popcorn ceilings are an “old school” thing – they have been slowly phased out of use over the past several decades. Once your popcorn ceilings are removed, your home will be considered to be more up to date.

Many popcorn ceilings in Greensboro have traces of asbestos in them, which has a direct impact on home appraisal. Some states actually prohibit you from selling a home with asbestos in it. Be sure that you get the ceiling tested before you put your home on the market.

We Remove Popcorn Ceilings That Have Not Been Repainted

If your ceiling is not painted, then you can easily remove the popcorn ceiling by spraying water onto it and then scraping it off with a putty knife or ceiling scraper.

Just put a drop cloth on the floor, spray some water on the ceiling and let it sit for about 20 minutes before you begin to scrape. It should scrape right off and appear smooth and flat.

We protect ourself with a proper mask and goggles.

We Remove Popcorn Ceilings That Have Been Painted

There are some extra steps involved when you need to get rid of a popcorn ceiling that has already been painted over. It takes some extra care, time and muscle to get this done completely and correctly. We recommend the following steps:

Prepare the space. Move the furniture out of the room with the popcorn ceiling. Lay some drop cloths on the floor and make sure that your pets are going to be away from the room while you’re working. It’ll help to keep them and you as safe as possible.
Prepare yourself. Protect yourself with a proper mask and goggles.
Prepare a vinegar mixture. Most experts recommend two parts vinegar to ten parts water. Mix the water and vinegar, pour into a spray bottle, and spray the mix on the ceiling. Allow it to sit for a half-hour or so. The vinegar will break down the paint, which will make it easier for the popcorn on your ceiling to come off. Don’t let it sit too long; it could end up hardening again, making it even more difficult to get everything off of the ceiling.
Scrape away! After the vinegar has eaten away at the paint and popcorn materials, you can get a large scraper pole and put your back into it. Scrape as much as you can. Then wait a bit, spray it with the vinegar mixture again, and repeat. After a few rotations of this, the entirety of the popcorn ceilings should come off and expose the drywall (or whatever was underneath it) with little to no residue.
Bring in the big guns. If the vinegar doesn’t seem to work, your best bet is to get wallpaper stripper or paint stripper. Many of these products can be toxic, so be sure that you use a proper mask, open up the windows and close the door to protect your family from the fumes. Then, you can use the same scraping technique to be able to get everything off of the ceiling with ease.

Refinishing After Popcorn Ceiling Removal

Now that we’ve removed the popcorn ceiling, it is time to turn our attention to what comes next. Now we have to smooth-out rough-looking ceiling, perhaps a little like the drywall that your home was built with. No matter what you plan for your new ceiling decor, there are a few steps we take to prepare the surface:

Sand it down. After we’ve removed the popcorn texture, it’s time to sand down the ceiling, making it as smooth as possible. It is best to use a hand sander while wearing protective goggles to protect your eyes. Once everything looks as smooth and even as possible, your ceiling is prepared for the next stage.
Get rid of remaining residue. After we scraped the popcorn off of your ceiling, you may notice that there is still residue left behind. After you sand the ceiling, we'll remove any stubborn residue by using a dampened block sponge.
We Can Apply new texture. We can utilize a joint compound as a base for a new texture on the ceiling. While popcorn ceilings are not “in” anymore, different textures and designs can help give your home a bit more of a modern look. All we need to do is use a joint compound (which is water + gypsum powder that’s mixed into a paste-like mixture) as the base and go from there.
We Prime the ceiling. We prime if you choose to apply a smooth coat of paint rather than a new texture, consider using a drywall sealer to prime the ceiling. This can help you identify spots in the ceiling that may need to be patched, and make the painting phase a lot more efficient.
We Paint the ceiling. While we can paint a popcorn ceiling, it looks a lot better if you take the time to scrape it off and prep it first. So, when we’re done scraping, we can use the type of paint that you want and paint it in the traditional manner. Paint rollers make it very simple to apply a smooth, even coat of paint on a professionaly finished job.

We Remove Popcorn Ceilings In Greensboro That Contain Asbestos?

If your popcorn ceilings were installed after the mid 1980s, then your ceiling does not have asbestos in it.

The Environmental Protection Agency banned the use of asbestos in popcorn ceiling applications that year and once the texture that was on shelves in retail stores was sold by 1985 nothing built after that should contain asbestos.

If your home was built before 1985 and there has not been any sort of renovation done in the home, it is recommended to order an asbestos test.

A professional painter or home inspector can take a look at your home, give you ideas about what you need to do, and let you know if asbestos is any sort of concern.

They can also help you to find resources that can help you to move forward if there is asbestos and/or if there are other concerns with the ceiling removal process.