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Anyone have popcorn ceilings removed (contractor or DIY)?
We are moving this summer into a house that has popcorn ceilings through most of the downstairs. It's a 1927 cottage that had the ceilings put in around 1970. I am afraid there will most likely be asbestos present in them, which of course will complicate this whole thing a lot.
We are having the hardwood floors refinished before we move in but that's about all time/money will allow.
I do want to paint the walls and add a picture rail beneath the crown molding at some point, so I'll probably do all of that when we have the ceilings done.
My main question is - did anyone live in the house while this was being done? Obviously each room will have to be completely cleared out/sealed off if asbestos is present in the material. We will have 2 small kids by then. It just seems like such a huge process. I am pretty sure we'll have it contracted out, but still......
Anyone have experience with this?
TIA!
Re: Anyone have popcorn ceilings removed (contractor or DIY)?
we did it before we moved in. we pulled out all the old flooring (carpet), had the popcorn guys remove the stuff (it was a MESS - we needed to wipe down the walls a little bit afterwards though they cleaned the walls too), and then we put new floors down and painted.
I think if they prep enough and cover things thoroughly and you plan on painting and refinishing the floors afterwards, it will help a lot too.
Yep... it was a mess. We had a contractor start on the day we moved in and had to live out of boxes, basically, until they were done. He ended up taking over 3 weeks so we fired him and had another guy come in and finish in 2 days.
I would suggest finding someone licensed with a team who can do it FAST and efficiently. It is a huge mess and we still have dust in our closet and the occasional popcorn ball come out of our ice dispenser.
Our house was built in the 90's so we didn't have to worry about asbestos, but still... it is the messiest thing your house will ever experience and I would recommend doing everything you can to avoid living there until they are 100% done.
First if the popcorn is removed properly there should not be popcorn balls in the fridge. It shouldn't even be that dusty. The proper way to remove a popcorn ceiling is to wet it down - a lot....the ceiling will be dripping a bit. Let it soak in a little and then scrape it off with a putty knife. It makes a huge mess, but it comes off like butter.
I have 2413 square feet of popcorn covered bliss. DH and I have scraped nearly half of it - we're doing rooms as we go. We clear out a room (for us this includes pulling out the nasty carpet so it's truly bare when we do this), put plastic down, drag the garden hose in the house and use a mister setting to wet the ceiling down - this is the fastest way to cover a large area with water. Then take our putty knives to the ceiling. The strips fall off on the plastic. When we're done we roll up the plastic and throw it away. It goes really fast. (for a frame of reference - DH alone scraped our living room 22 feet by 17 feet so 374 square feet, in less than an hour)
We had our ceiling tested. We do have asbestos. In TX, if you know you have asbestos and you want to pay to have work done, it must be done by a certified asbestos removal company. Which is major $$$. However, we researched it and figured if we were smart about it then the health risk is minimal. Asbestos is only dangerous if it's released in the air and breathed in, if it's wet, the water contains the particles. So we wear masks, goggles, shoe covers (more important than you think - the wet popcorn sticks to everything so you can walk around and then just throw the shoe covers away and you don't have to worry about it stuck and drying to your shoes), turn off the central air and keep the popcorn wet - we even wet down what falls on the plastic periodically to make sure it's not drying out while we're working.
FWIW - I don't recommend anyone remove asbestos without doing their own research to make a decision about what is acceptable for their family. DH and I decided the cost (with the precautions we're taking) versus benefit was worth it for us. GL
DS1 born June 2008 | m/c at 9w March 2011 | DS2 born April 2012
Jack
We put Rosin Paper on top of the plastic when we removed ours. It helped with cleanup in a major way. It kind of absorbed the water and popcorn so it wasn't just sitting on the plastic in pools getting slippery.
Jack
DH did our kitchen about a month ago. We were busting up tile too, so it was an awful mess. He did it dry... he said, "If you wet it, it comes off easier, but since they did it wrong in the first place it's coming off just fine." I never considered that wetting it would cut down on the dust, or I would have insisted! Anyway, we hung plastic floor to ceiling, and then also laid it on the floor. We covered doorways and everything. The plastic helped a LOT, but some dust and bits still sneaked behind/through the plastic because it would tear if large pieces hit it just right.
DH wants to do the rest of the house, and I'm not quite up for it yet. But maybe wetting it will make a difference... but we aren't replacing flooring in any of the other rooms, so who knows.
BUT, good luck to you, and take PP's advice and wet it down to avoid the dust
I may be new to The Nest, but I'm a longtime member of several other online design and home improvement communities which have the same rules regarding post content and etiquette as The Nest, and I must admit I'm confused as to why you policed @jenfore6's comment. Would you be willing to explain to me, in detail, which rules she violated so that I may have a better understanding of how things work around here? Since you are obviously an expert at interpreting the rules and regulations, I would truly appreciate the opportunity to learn how to behave, appropriately, from you. Thank you.