The Best Ways to Remove a Popcorn Ceiling

Ceilings with Asbestos

• Between 1935 and 1978, many spray-on ceiling coatings contained asbestos, so if the ceiling was installed during those years, you'll need to have your ceiling tested for asbestos prior to removing it. There is no safe amount of exposure to asbestos, so the best way to remove an asbestos ceiling is to hire a professional. Because of the danger involved, it is illegal to hire anyone but an asbestos abatement contractor to perform the removal.

Non-Painted Ceilings

• The most effective way to remove popcorn texture that hasn't been painted is to spray it with water. Once the water soaks in, the popcorn texture should fall off when scraped with a trowel or wall scraper. This process works best when you wet and scrape one five-foot square section of ceiling at a time. Because you're scraping your ceiling onto the floor, it's best to move all of the furniture out of the room and lay down masking paper that will catch all of the falling debris.

Painted Ceilings

• Popcorn texture that's been painted is trickier to remove because water cannot easily penetrate the paint and wet the popcorn texture underneath. If several applications of water do not work, then you should apply an industrial-strength paint stripper first; after removing the paint, you should be able to remove the popcorn texture more easily.