DIY Popcorn Ceiling Removal vs. Hiring a Professional

Plenty of homeowners consider scraping their own popcorn ceilings. It can be done, and knowing what's involved helps you decide whether to take it on or hire it out. Here's an honest look at the job.

Test before you scrape

If your home was built before the mid-1980s, the texture may contain asbestos. Have a small sample lab-tested before you disturb it, and don't scrape until you know. See testing popcorn ceilings for asbestos.

What the job involves

• Protection. Floors, walls and fixtures need to be covered with plastic, and the room sealed off. Wet popcorn sticks to everything it lands on.
• Scraping. The texture is misted with water, left to soak, then scraped off with a wide blade, working overhead for hours.
• Repair. Once the popcorn is off, you'll usually find rough seams, nail pops and gouges that the texture was hiding.
• Finishing. This is the hard part. The ceiling needs skim coating and sanding to look smooth, or a new texture applied evenly. Then primer and paint.
• Cleanup. Bags of wet debris, plus the dust from sanding.

Common mistakes

• Too much water. Soaking the ceiling until it drips can soften the drywall's paper face and cause it to tear or bubble.
• Scraping dry. Dry popcorn doesn't come off cleanly and creates far more dust.
• Gouging the drywall. Holding the scraper at too steep an angle digs into the ceiling, and every gouge has to be filled.
• Not covering the walls. Wet texture runs down walls and dries on trim.
• Skipping primer. Fresh joint compound absorbs paint unevenly. Without primer, the ceiling looks blotchy.
• Underestimating painted popcorn. Paint seals the texture so water can't soften it. See removing painted popcorn.

Where the difference shows

Most DIY removals get the popcorn off. Where they fall short is the finish: visible seams, ridges and flat spots that show up as soon as light hits the ceiling from the side. A smooth ceiling is one of the hardest finishes in drywall work. Read about the levels of drywall finish.

When hiring it out makes sense

For a whole room or a whole house, high ceilings, painted popcorn, or when you want a truly smooth finish, a professional crew saves you days of overhead work and gets a finish that holds up under light. If you've already scraped and the ceiling doesn't look right, it can be repaired and refinished.

Popcorn removal in Orlando

New Ceilings removes popcorn ceilings across Orlando and Central Florida, then refinishes them smooth or with a light texture and paints them. We protect and contain the room, sand with dust-free tools and clean up. See how the process works or popcorn ceiling removal.