How to Remove Popcorn Ceiling: 8 Steps and What It Costs

To remove popcorn ceiling texture, test it for asbestos first if the home was built before the mid-1980s, then mist, soak and scrape it off, repair and skim coat the ceiling, and prime and paint it. The steps in order:

1. Test the texture for asbestos if the home is older.
2. Clear the room and cover floors, walls and vents with plastic.
3. Check whether the texture has been painted.
4. Mist a small section lightly and let it soak for about 15 minutes.
5. Scrape it off at a low angle with a wide knife or ceiling scraper.
6. Repair the drywall, then skim coat the ceiling.
7. Sand, prime and choose a finish.
8. Paint the ceiling with two coats of flat ceiling paint.

Cost: nationally, removal alone typically runs about $1 to $2 per square foot, and painting the ceiling adds about $1 to $3 per square foot, according to HomeAdvisor.

• What you need before you start
• 1. Test for asbestos before you remove popcorn ceiling
• 2. Clear and seal the room
• 3. Check whether the popcorn ceiling has been painted
• 4. Mist the popcorn texture and let it soak
• 5. Scrape the popcorn ceiling
• 6. Repair the drywall and skim coat
• 7. Sand, prime and choose a finish
• 8. Paint the ceiling
• How much does popcorn ceiling removal cost?
• Common mistakes
• DIY vs hire a pro
• Frequently asked questions

Learning how to remove popcorn ceiling pays off: a textured ceiling before and after removal, finished by Friends Enterprises.

• Testing (older homes): an asbestos sample kit for an accredited lab, or an NC-accredited inspector.
• Protection: plastic sheeting, painter's tape, safety goggles and a dust mask or respirator.
• Scraping: a pump garden sprayer or spray bottle, a 6 to 12 inch knife or a ceiling scraper with a debris bag, and a ladder.
• Finishing: joint compound, a wide drywall knife or trowel, a pole sander and drywall primer.
• Painting: flat ceiling paint, a roller and an extension pole.

If the home was built before the mid-1980s, have a small sample of the texture tested by an accredited lab before you scrape. The EPA banned spray-applied asbestos surfacing materials in 1978, but existing stock could still be used, so ceilings textured into the 1980s may contain it. Do not scrape or sand until you have the result.

A positive result does not always mean removal: leaving the ceiling undisturbed, or covering it, can be safer than scraping. If you hire an asbestos contractor in North Carolina, check that they are accredited. The state lists NC-accredited asbestos professionals. Its Health Hazards Control Unit names textured ceilings among the products that can contain asbestos, and says homeowners may do renovations on their own homes without testing or permits but strongly encourages testing first. The EPA’s asbestos information explains the health concern.

Remove furniture and window coverings, switch off the HVAC, and cover the floor and walls with plastic sheeting taped at the top. Remove ceiling fans and light fixtures if you can, or cover them, and switch off the power to ceiling fixtures at the breaker before any water goes on the ceiling.

Wet texture is heavy and sticky and it lands everywhere, so a sealed room saves hours of cleanup. Running the plastic up the walls to just below the ceiling line gives you a contained work area and protects the paint. Wear safety goggles and a dust mask or respirator, since falling debris and fine dust are both likely.

Mist a small, hidden patch and wait about 15 minutes. If the water soaks in and the texture darkens and softens, it is unpainted and will scrape off easily. If the water beads up and the texture stays hard, it has been painted, which makes the wet method far less effective.

Painted texture is where most DIY removals stall. Some guides note it can take up to an hour of repeated spraying to saturate. If a test patch will not soften, decide before you start whether you are prepared for dry scraping, which is very dusty, or whether a skim coat over the texture, or a crew, is the better route.

Use a pump garden sprayer or spray bottle to mist a small section lightly, enough to darken the texture without making it drip. Wait about 15 minutes for the water to soak in, then test with a knife. If it resists, mist again and wait before testing. Work one section at a time.

Keep it to a light mist, not a soak. Too much water can loosen the drywall tape and soften the paper face of the board, which creates repair work later. Working in small sections keeps the texture at the right softness instead of letting it dry out before you reach it.

Hold a 6 to 12 inch knife or a ceiling scraper at a low angle and push the softened texture off in steady, overlapping passes. Scrape the perimeter first so you do not catch and tear the drywall tape. File the knife's corners slightly so they do not dig into the paper face of the drywall.

A scraper with a debris bag catches much of the falling texture. Re-mist any section that has dried before you reach it, and finish corners and edges with a smaller putty knife. Take breaks, because overhead work tires quickly and gouges tend to follow.

Once the texture is off, fix nail pops, gouges, tape seams and torn paper, and prime any torn paper before applying compound so it does not bubble. Then skim coat: apply thin coats of joint compound across the whole ceiling, letting each dry and sanding lightly, until the surface is smooth.

How to skim coat walls and ceilings

1. Repair damage and prime the repaired areas, then let the primer dry fully.
2. Thin the joint compound slightly with water until it is smooth and spreadable.
3. Apply a thin coat with a wide knife or a roller, working in sections and feathering the edges.
4. Let the coat dry completely, then sand lightly.
5. Apply a second coat, and a third if needed, ideally in a different direction from the one before.
6. Sand lightly with a finer grit, wipe off the dust and prime.

The Gypsum Association's GA-214 standard calls a skim coat over the entire surface a Level 5 finish, and it is the finish usually specified where strong side lighting, glossy paint or dark paint would show flaws. If the drywall is damaged beyond a patch, drywall repair is a job a crew can handle before the finishing starts.

Sand the dried compound smooth, wipe off the dust, and prime the whole ceiling, because joint compound is porous and primer helps the paint dry evenly. Then choose a finish: leave it smooth, or apply orange peel or knockdown texture, which hide small flaws better than a smooth ceiling.

Knockdown vs orange peel texture

Roll two coats of flat ceiling paint, rolling the second coat across the first, and keep a wet edge so you do not leave lap marks. Flat paint is the usual choice because it reflects less light and shows fewer surface flaws. Paint the ceiling before the walls so any drips land on surfaces you have not finished.

Let the primer dry fully, cut in around the edges, then roll in long, overlapping strokes while the edge is still wet. If the walls need paint too, do them after the ceiling. Our interior painting crew can handle the ceiling and walls together.

Nationally, removing popcorn texture from an unpainted ceiling with no asbestos typically costs about $1 to $2 per square foot, according to HomeAdvisor. Painting the ceiling afterward adds about $1 to $3 per square foot, and asbestos removal by professionals costs more, around $3 to $7 per square foot.

The room figures are simple arithmetic: 144 square feet multiplied by each per-square-foot range. They are not quotes. The ranges come from HomeAdvisor’s popcorn ceiling removal cost guide; other cost guides publish different numbers, and some current contractor quotes for removal alone run higher. Treat them as national starting points rather than local prices, and expect painted texture, high ceilings, asbestos and heavy repairs to push a quote up. A written quote after someone has seen the ceiling is the only reliable number.

DIY can work for one small room of unpainted texture that has tested clear for asbestos, if you are comfortable with overhead work and drywall finishing. Hire a pro when the texture is painted, the ceilings are high, there are several rooms, the test is positive, or you want a flat, seamless finish.

A popcorn ceiling job by Friends Enterprises in a Charlotte home: the finishing after the scraper decides how the ceiling looks.

If you would rather hand it off, the popcorn ceiling removal page explains how Friends Enterprises handles removal, skim coating and paint, and how to get a free quote.