Costco

Our house has three rooms with the popcorn ceilings in them. I did some searching and found out that these contain asbestos? The problem is moving everything out of these rooms will be a major PITA. But the matriarch wants it gone.... the thing that bothers her the most is the looks. Anyone had this done before?

Dan

Asbestos is so 90's, don't you know it mold now? Call a local company to remove it. They move stuff to the middle of the room, put plastic sheeting to within 4" of the ceiling, take it off, roll the plastic up and haul it off. They then finish the ceiling with a orange peal or knock down finish. We had five rooms and two halls done about five years ago for $1200. One of the best improvements we have made to the house. My , DO NOT ask to have it tested for Asbestos! You will just be opening a . . .

stogie1020

Can you fill it in with spackle and smooth it out?

Costco

Damn people remodeling our house told us it'd take about a week and we just have to move everything out of the house. I'll try and look up that spackle fill-in and the plastic sheet removal method. Funny cause I was wondering why they don't just put a big sheet over everything and just take it off that way....

I was just worried about the asbestos factor. I read up that some asbestos sources are best left undisturbed lest you send the fibers flying everywhere for you to inhale. I actually didn't know about spackle, or the knock down finish, or most things about remodeling or painting... our entire house has a knock down finish though, including the ceilings that were redone, so it should match nicely

thanks

stogie1020

OK, full disclosure, I was kidding about the spackle... Who knows, though. It might work!

Dan

Seal the room with plastic.

http://www.ronhazelton.com/article/h...ilings/UDIyMA/

csmeance

does the popcorn ceiling have any sparkles in it? Is it large chunks of "popcorn" or finer bits like the size of crumbs?

jupitersolo

Wait a minute? How old is the house?

stogie1020

Does the popcorn ceiling, in fact taste like popcorn?

Nom nom nom

Costco

No sparkles. Popcorn is bread crumb size, albeit it looks painted white ones that are affixed to the ceiling. House was made in the 60's.

and no, it doesn't taste like popcorn. In fact, I actually feel really sick now

stogie1020

Costco

What have you done?!?!?!?! This reminds me of the time when my brother told me to eat the paint chips outside because we ran out of potato chips. I'm such a sucker!

TRIOD3SIGNS

PIECE of cake. Nothing to lose sleep over. you can do it yourself with a paint sprayer that you can rent from HOME DEPOT.

step 1: move as much furniture as you can out of the room. Whatever big furniture you cant move, just slide to the center.

step 2: lay painters plastic over all flat floor areas FIRST! Tape securely to carpet or baseboards. Then move on to covering all furniture with the plastic. Then cover walls with more plastic.

step 3: repeat step 2... add a second layer of covering over the first. You'll see why in a second.

step 4: load the paint sprayer with "WATER" (not paint) & spray lightly and evenly over the popcorn. The popcorn will absorb the water & practically flake off with a large "wide" putty knife. (only runs a few $ at home depot")

Some parts of the popcorn may be tougher to remove & might require more water spray. ie the corners & edges sometimes seem harder due to paint being overlapped from the walls & ceilings when they were painted previously.

step 5: after you remove the popcorn wrap in the first layer of plastic... and waaalaaahh, you have a clean layer of plastic ready for whatever texture you choose to lay for your new cieling finish...


not: A cheap-y air mask is recommended, but most of the fibers are subdued due to the water making them heavy & they fall over the plastic protective layer you lay down.


Ive done this plenty of times when I worked for the FAMILY COMPANY, so if you have any other ?'s... PM me.

ENJOY.

Rockstar21

iTrader: (1)

ahhh something i can finally chime in on..

1. popcorn ceilings may or may not have any harmful ingredients in them. it solely depends on when the ceiling was sprayed. (in your case it doesnt matter b/c its coming down anyway)

2. popcorn texture or "acoustic" texture is still sold widely today and even put up in new housing/businesses. its cheaper to spray then your standard orange peel or level 5 finish. (which is why its still used alot in hotels)

3. the instructions listed above are pretty much spot on for removing it.

my suggestion to add would be use a much wider knife than the one above for scraping... (puddy knives are fine but using a 10-14" drywall mud knife covers more ground and are generally stiffer) they are still $10 and under.



and about the knockdown finish... its nothing more then a standard orange peel finish that somebody came back over gently with a wide mud knife and flattened the surface. very easy to do for somebody with little-no experience.

i manage a drywall products company... i can tell you what you need to know about pretty much anything wall/ceiling related.

dont hesitate to ask for more info... subscribed..

jupitersolo

Asbestos was mainly used for insulation, it was a little $$ to use. So I think that it wouldn't have been used to popcorn ceilings in most houses, it would have add extra cost to the price of the build.

TRIOD3SIGNS

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

As Jupiter said, asbestos was mainly used for insulation, but I would not take chances. There have been instances where asbestos was found in floor tiles from the 60's and 70's. Do you really want to jeopardize your family's health to remove a ceiling? I would contact a company, or, at the very least, get a full-on bunny suit with mask, goggles, and respirator and seal everything up to remove it. Remember to have someone help you and to blow off all fibers when you leave the sealed room.

Majofo

Rounder

hold your breath.

I would get it tested for ACM before you decide to remove it.

doopstr

Hey I'm having an asbestos party. Come on over. We have bacon, waffles, and you get to dress like an astronaut.

stogie1020

I'm listening... Go on...

mrsteve

iTrader: (1)

So... what did you end up doing?

mrsteve

iTrader: (1)

It's more likely in the drywall joint compound (drywall mud) than the spray-applied accoustical ceiling. In the 60's and 70's (and even 80s) it was very common. Surprisingly it can still be found in products today (most of which are manufactured in Canada, Mexico, or China).

Costco

Late update, well, not really but we haven't done shit. Me and my sister are resistant to moving every single god damn thing out of our rooms and back.

My mom just likes to spend a shitload of money without researching or truly understanding what she's spending money on. See the other thread that I'm going to make in a minute or so. I don't know if the popcorn ceilings had asbestos in them, and I highly doubt the contractor who removed the popcorn ceilings in the other rooms when we first moved in tested for it either. For some god forsaken reason she only removed the popcorn in all but two rooms.

sorry, ranting on here...

mrsteve

iTrader: (1)

Where are you located? You can have it tested for very little cost.

Costco

In San Jose, California. What's the easiest way?

dallison

move out, then it's their problem.

mrsteve

iTrader: (1)

Take a squirt bottle of some sort and wet an area about 2" x 2" (preferably a corner so you don't notice it much). Scrape the wetted ceiling finish into a ziploc bag.

Send it to this laboratory:

http://www.emsl.com/index.cfm?nav=La...aboratoryID=21

Call them ahead of time to see if there is anything special you need to do.

Costco

Thanks mrsteve. I'll give it a try... I know exactly which spot to try too. My room, since frankly I don't give a damn.

Believe me, if I could have I would have moved out 2 years ago. I can't find a full time job that supports that though.

mrsteve

iTrader: (1)

I don't know what their "street rates" are but it shouldn't cost you more than $30.

Chr8808

iTrader: (1)

Put some new drywall up and call it a night

mrsteve

iTrader: (1)

Ah but in order to fasten the new drywall to the ceiling you'd have to place screws through the asbestos (if it is asbestos).

The easiest solution is to just leave it alone.

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

That's what I'd do. No muss no fuss.