i have popcorn textured ceilings in my home. i have heard that it is likely that it contains asbestos. how can i know for sure? how much might it cost to have the material tested?

This was addressed a few weeks ago. If you search, you'll find the posting. From all information available, asbestos was not used in popcorn ceilings, but search for the post. Should you decide to remove it, there is a tool available that looks like it would make the messy job a little easier.

You can rent a ceiling sander that hooks up to a shop vac. With it you can clear the popcorn off an average size room in 15 to 20 minutes - without much mess.

Otherwise, it's a wet it down and scrape it off process, followed by pole sanding.

It may or may not contain asbestos but don't sand it! Believe me I went through this last summer. Take a sprayer like you'd use for spraying for bugs & fill it with hot water. Spray it on the ceiling, wait about 10 minutes & it should scrape off easily with a putty knife. It'll darn near wipe off. I started scraping mine holding a shop vac up to collect as much dust as possible. Then I jumped on YouTube & found a MUCH easier way as I've described above. I could NOT believe how easy it was.

Is it easier to paint over a popcorn ceiling or remove it completely? My husband and I are disagreeing over it, and we have decided to do whichever is easier in our new house...

It's easier to paint over it. But nicer if you remove it. The trouble with removing it, you will gouge out some of the drywall mud at the joints, and you should skim coat those areas. Then spray on a knock down or an orange peel texture -- unless you want to try a smooth finish, which requires better drywall technique.

So there is more work to removing it. And when I've removed them, I do it by spraying water with a garden sprayer, let it sit a minute then scrape with a drywall or large putty knife. It's kind of messy, but not difficult.

I never have tried sanding it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Re-mdlr,

If you paint it, the texture may remove. I suggest spraying it keeping the coats very light so as not to soak it.

You could remove it yourself, then hire a drywall guy to fix it. I did all my ceilings myself and am so glad I did. The rooms look taller and brighter.

Use hot water and add a cap of fabric softener to help the water stick.

I'm going to say it again just because ...well, just because.

I've painted over popcorn ceilings (and have had some of them peel off right above me. I've done the wet spray thing, then scraped, then repaired and I've used the right equipment and sanded it off.

There is no comparison. Seriously - wetting it and scraping is a nasty, messy day-long job. Then it is almost certain that you will have to do some mudwork to repair some of the gouges you'll make with the scraper. By comparison, I can completely sand a 15' x 15' ceiling in about 20 minutes with a pole mounted 8" disc sander hooked up to a shop vac. Hardly any mess and it's ready to paint immediately.

I guess it depends on how much your time is worth.

I taped up plastic and wet scraped two bedrooms where the popcorn had been painted and did it in two hours. I rolled up the plastic and all was well. No dust, no dirt and no sore arms. The ceiling literally fell off in sheets in some areas.

In my case, the repair was more extensive. The ceiling had been nailed, not screwed, and had dropped over 1/2" down. So I screwed the ceiling back in place and removed the nails. I don't think I could have sanded as the nails were all popped. I used a light orange peel texture to match the walls and repainted.