Your first consideration is to have a small piece tested for asbestos if you are in a pre 70's home.Most cities/counties have places to get this testing done for a minimal fee,if they charge at all.There should be a hazardous materials listing in the government section of your phone book.

You dont want to really soak the popcorn,(acoustic), but rather dampen it using a garden type sprayer with a fine mist nozzle. I've even used windex type bottle sprayers on smaller projects. Drop cloth everything, and after it falls, any material not landing on the drops or landing on anything else for that matter, allow to dry, then cleanup.If you attempt to clean it up while wet, it will just spread and smear.The acoustic adheres better to the mudded joints than it does to the field of the wall board,but you will find that by dampening, it will scrape fairly easy.I generally use a 12" drywall knife to scrape,using a smaller knife blade and even small putty knifes for intricate areas such as around fixtures,etc.

Safety up and even though it's damp, wear a dust mask and eye protection.If you have it tested and find it does contain asbestos,their are website to explain how to safely remove d.i.y.This includes the best way to drop cloth,seal,tape,etc.It's not as critical when it doesn't contain asbestos,you can afford to be a little sloppier, but any measure you take before scraping, saves time on clean-up. You will have to find out the proper disposal requirements in your area if it does contain asbestos, but i dont believe you would have to go to the expense of having a licensed hazmat removal contractor take care of the removal unless required in your area.

Thanks! Thru a series of phone calls, I finally connected with a private company that does the asbestos testing for $30. If I can have the sample to the lab by noon tomorrow, they'll be able to let us know by that afternoon if it's safe or not. And thanks for the other tips as well :)
Monica

Anyone know how long ago asbestos was banned from use? Would our 1990-era condo in Maui have any? I want to remove the textured ceilings there eventually.

You should be safe being 90's,chisue. I had thought that the cutoff date for acoustic(popcorn)cielings containig asbestos was early seventies, but brickeye mentioned there was still product stocked by suppliers leading to its use beyond the early seventies,even though banned.

Im sure you would have no worries, but you can always get a sample tested for peace of mind.

We took ours down. I'd get a good garden sprayer (about a 3 or 5 gallon jug of water or so that can sit on the ladder) and use that verses the windex bottle. (Your hands will get worn out very quickly, which is why that poster said for "small" jobs!).

If your ceiling hasn't been painted, it won't take much water to get it down. Don't soak it. Experiment with a few sprays, let it soak in a min or two, then scrape. Have lots of bags ready, the tool gets heavy quickly. If the popcorn has been painted once, it might be more diffucult..if it's been painted several times, what you're doing won't work. That calls for sanding, and the horrible mess people picture.

We did the whole 1100 sq ft condo in 3 evenings of work, including clean up. And by "we" I mean I did other stuff and occasionally said "good boy, nice work" to my DH :)

I thought it was the 70's too but have now heard and read as late as 1980. We built in 81 so that's cutting it close. It's worth $30 for the peace of mind.

The ceiling has never been painted...WHEW!
igloochic, I'll have to call DH from the mall and restaurant to say "good boy, nice work". He's told me I needed to vacate that property and I'm not about to argue with him :)
Monica

We had a great and easy time of removal since ours was sprayed on after all the painting. We kept a shop vac with a drywall dust filter handy and cleaned as we went. It changed the look of our house! Good luck :-)

Another tip for dust control:

Put a box fan in one or more windows in the room you're working in, blowing outward. Try to minimize the space around the fan, such that it won't just suck air back into the room from outside. That way, the room you are working in will be at a somewhat lower pressure than the rest of the house, meaning no dust will migrate to other parts of the house and instead will go outside.

Also, make sure you seal any air conditioning or heating duct opening before you start working. I use duct tape on both sides of the grate. I've also sealed off doorway openings with plastic sheeting, though this is not really necessary if you have the ventilation set right.

I find that with these tips, and the wetting described above with a hand-pump sprayer, dust problems are greatly reduced, and almost eliminated in other parts of the house.

Yep! A little 'negative air pressure' does wonders in keeping construction dust from settling 'everywhere'!

I use those two fan window units to exhaust sanding dust that my floor machines miss capturing. Works great!

I agree with Finz2left. Removing the popcorn makes a HUGE difference. Currently, I am going through a remodel and had them take the popcorn down. It looks sooo much better. The drywall guys tried to talk me into a knock down texture but I thought it looked like smushed popcorn.

You will love your ceilings!

Is "knockdown" and "splatter drag" the same thing?

kitchenkelly, what kind of finish/texture did use? I was thinking of a splatter drag.

Does anyone mix liquid laundry detergent with the water they use to wet the texture?

monicakm, I went with no texture at all. Flat, flat, flat. I am sure it is wiser to have some kind of texture to help hide any imperfections in the future. I may be writing into the forum in a few years looking for help. :)