Buttered or not buttered?

Unfortunately very very location and quantity dependant. Age of the popcorn as well (possible asbestos?)...........

Get someone who likes popcorn - with severe buck teeth.

Seriously, how is anyone going to know this - get some bids.

The first thing you do is send a small sample to a certified lab to test for asbestos. If there is no asbestos, it's a weekend with tarps, spray bottles of water, and scrapers. If the lab tells you it's positive for asbestos, expect to spend thousands on an accredited asbestos remediation team that will do it properly and not leave your house contaminated and your family exposed to a health risk.

I just was looking for averages. Like, do people charge 1.00 per sq foot or three? House was built in 1990 so probably no asbestos but I can check.

Are you sure it's popcorn and not stipple? We have a house in NC that was built in 1986. The ceilings in the living areas looked like staligtites, with sharp points. A contractor we called said it was drywall compound and said our best option was to lean to like it.

We recently did a major remodel and knew it had to go. We had the blown in insulation sucked out of the attic, dropped the old ceiling, and put up new sheetrock. New/ better insulation blown back in. Can't tell you what a huge relief to have that stuff gone!

If it is really popcorn, then it’s just an easy job scraping off wet muck. I would find a handyman type person if you don’t want to do it. If it’s textured drywall, it may be easier to throw up some 1/4 inch Sheetrock than to pay someone to fix it.

Depends on where you live. Contractors will probably charge you $1 to $2K, depending on how many rooms. I actually had one contractor who suggested adding sheetrock over the popcorn ceiling -- for the bargain price of $20k (they were union contractors so that should tell you something). I've seen some GREAT ways to do yourself online (shop vac is my fave), BUT then you've got to figure out what you are going to do next. I know everyone wants a "smooth" ceiling but it's a lot of work to get it to look like that after you remove the popcorn so you have that as an added expense. So make sure you calculate all the expenses of your ceiling project.