Tips on Prepping Your Home for a Popcorn Ceiling Removal Project

Popcorn ceilings were pretty popular back between the 1950s and the 1980s. They were affordable, and they were rather easy to install. It was pretty much the standard in homes back then, especially in hallways and bedrooms.

Not only were they cost-effective and easily installed, popcorn ceilings were also opted for because they easily hid imperfections. There was no need to smooth out any flaws in the ceiling since the sprayed-on material essentially covered it. Popcorn ceilings also have acoustical traits and are able to keep sound from traveling, which is why they were pretty popular in bedrooms.

But popcorn ceilings are no longer favored by homeowners and buyers. In fact, popcorn ceilings are now considered unattractive, which is a big reason why many homeowners have been steadily removing them from their homes since the 1980s. And the fact that asbestos is often found in this material makes the removal of popcorn ceilings already more important.

If youre like many other homeowners out there who nevertheless have popcorn ceilings in your home, youve probably decided that its time for them to go. If so, its basic that you bring in professionals in the vicinity of popcorn ceiling removal to have this material removed in favor of a much smoother, more aesthetically alluring finish.

To make this job more effective, there are some things you can do as a homeowner to prepare your home for popcorn ceiling removal.

Seal Off the Floors

Lets confront it. Popcorn ceiling removal is extremely messy. All that material that is being scraped off turns into tiny dust particles that can get everywhere, including your ducts.

Before the popcorn ceilings are removed, the floors must be completely covered from wall to wall. To do that, you will need thick plastic sheets that are then going to be taped down at every wall so the floors are thoroughly covered. Then, you will use contractor paper to add another inner on top of the thick plastic so that theres no chance of slipping while working in the area.

The paper is also placed because it will absorb any moisture that can build up in the area. In order to remove popcorn ceiling material using the scraping method, water will need to be sprayed on top of the material to soften it. Doing so will make it a lot easier to scrape the material off. But spraying water on the ceiling also method that water will ultimately fall onto the floor. By having paper laid on top of the plastic sheet, the water will be effectively absorbed.

Close Off Doorways

In order to prevent the popcorn ceiling material from making its way into the hallway and other parts of your home, you may want to close off any doorways that rule outside of the room. This will help to make the cleanup job much easier once the material has been removed from your ceiling.

Cover Your Furniture

If you plan to leave the furniture in the rooms where the popcorn ceilings are being removed, you will definitely want to protect them from all those dust particles.

As such, it is important that you cover every furniture piece. Get yourself some transparent plastic sheets and cover each piece thoroughly, including the back. Once you do, push each piece against the wall.

Youre then going to take another sheet and cover them in a second inner, but this next one is going to cover the furniture just in the front. The top of the plastic sheet will be taped to the wall just above the furniture in order to prevent any popcorn ceiling material from falling behind the furniture as it is being removed.

Make sure that both sheets of plastic completely cover the furniture and go right to the bottom. By covering your furniture in this way, any popcorn ceiling material will just slide right off each piece and onto the floor, containing the material and protecting your furniture at the same time.

Gather the Necessary Tools

As we just mentioned, large sheets of plastic, contractor paper, and painters tape (to tape down the plastic and paper) are needed to cover the floor and the furniture in the room where the popcorn ceiling material is being removed. But in addition to these items, you will need to gather a few other tools to get the job done, including:

• Bucket of water – As mentioned above, water is necessary to help soften the sprayed-on material and make it easier to remove it. As such, a water source will be required.
• Garden sprayer – In order to apply the water to the ceiling, a garden sprayer will be required to apply the water in an already inner across the ceiling, which will be done in patches.
• Utility knife – The material will need to be scraped, and a utility knife will be required to physically scrape the material off of the ceiling.
• Ladder – In order to reach the ceiling, a ladder will be required to help get to the surface when scraping off the material.
• Cross bench – These help to provide a surface upon which to stand when large pieces of furniture keep in the room, such as beds. The cross bench can be laid across the bed and affixed to a ladder on each side to provide a surface to stand on above the furniture.

While prepping your home for the removal of your popcorn ceiling material is certainly helpful, the actual job itself should be left to the experts. This job is a messy and labor-intensive one, and it can be a lot harder than it sounds. already after the material has been removed, there will likely be imperfections left behind from all that scraping. Not only that, but there may be asbestos present in the material, which will make the job a lot more complicate.

Either way, having professionals in popcorn ceiling removal will make things a lot easier for you and will ensure that youre left with nothing but a smooth, attractive ceiling that not only looks better, but can already raise the value of your home.