We've never had to deal with them. However, I know lots of people who have. Based on their feedback I would hire pros, especially if it's the entire house.

Are you 100% sure about hiring out?

I've been removing the popcorn ceilings in our 1976 house one room at a time over the past few years. Seriously, anyone can do it. I'm a woman in my 50's.

You lay down newspaper on the floor, get on your step ladder, and spray the heck out of the ceiling with a spray bottle full of water, then just scrape with a PLASTIC putty knife. It's a mess, but very doable. A real PIA mess-wise, but very easy.

Make sure you roll up newspapers while the popcorn is still wet-much easier and less dusty.

Then 2 coats of ceiling paint and you're done.

Ignore them.

Wendy, I would get it done since you're willing to hire someone. I think you'll be much happier without the popcorn, or, as I still call it, cottage cheese.

You can buy inexpensive asbestos testing kits on Amazon where you mail in a sample of your popcorn ceiling. Our ceilings had been painted multiple times. So we dry-scraped them, then sanded, then painted them. It left an orange peel texture look. You should test out your method in a small bathroom first to see what you're in for. Its a messy project no matter if you do it yourself or if you hire it out.

Test for asbestos & if negative, hire a pro to do it. I had them removed from a previous home, done quickly with little mess. Well worth the $.

For the roughly 20K that it will take to do that in an occupied house, including moving all of your furniture out and renting a hotel, and then fixing the bad drywall job underneath the popcorn after it’s gone, I’d bet you can learn to ignore them. I’m sure that you don’t want the $1 a foot guy who has no license or a insurance or intent to test for anything. Much less hanfle the positive results. Asbestos was in ceiling popcorn even through the early 80’s, as old stock materials were used up. Familiarize yourself with the handling and disposal requirements.

I just ignore mine. 90% of the people I know have them and no one walks into each others homes and exclaim, "OMG! You have popcorn ceiling, ewwww".

during our whole house remodel we removed the popcorn in 2 rooms, the large living area which had a ceiling that was popcorn and was open concept to a kitchen/dining room that had a smooth ceiling- meaning 2 different textures right next to each other. we also removed it in a spare bedroom. you will need to test/make sure you don't have asbestos first, well into the 1980s it was used. If you can hire it out- do it. we removed everything from the rooms, laid down plastic and sprayed the ceiling down with water and let that soak in before scraping. its very messy. if your ceilings aren't finished properly underneath that popcorn, you/they will spend alot of time making them pretty after scraping- meaning more drywall mud and sanding so that they look nice when painted. After doing the bedroom we decided to go right over the top of the popcorn in the rest of the house with tongue and groove planks, priming & painting with BM decorators white and trimming them out. Way less messy, but still a fair amount of work. it came out very nice and really complements the house. not all homes will work with this particular look, but it fits right in with ours. there are of course less rustic options for planking for more expense, but this was the least expensive, best looking option for our house.

before:

after:

It's so good that you've found an easier and much less expensive solution to your issue.

As someone who has long abhorred the asbestos-laden popcorn ceilings of my 1961 southern California track home, I thought I might share some tips for removing them based on my own experiences.

First of all, you can buy a relatively cheap DIY test to see your popcorn ceilings might indeed have asbestos. I did this, and the results were positive. For the state of California, though, one needs to have a licensed tester come out, collect samples, and write a detailed report, which must be submitted before the abatement can be done. Based on the age of my home and work that I plan on eventually doing, I had him also test the drywall and vinyl mastic. All tested positive for asbestos.

Then, with my report in hand, I contacted three abatement companies to give estimates on removing the popcorn from three bedrooms. The estimates were $3,500, $5,000, and $7,000, only for the removal. I went with the lowest bid.

My husband, college-age son, his friends, and I moved everything out of the bedrooms into our family room, dining room, and living room. By only doing the bedrooms, we saved on storage costs and movers. The actual removal of the popcorn took two days, and, although we couldn't access our bedrooms, we were able to stay in our home. That saved us the cost of a hotel room.

In addition to having the popcorn removed, we had insulation blown into the ceilings, the ceilings and rooms painted, the carpet replaced with engineered hardwood, and new trim installed and painted. Again, family and friends helped us move everything back in. I hired everyone myself, and, apart from moving furniture, the work was completed in two weeks.

I still hope to remove the popcorn ceilings from the rest of the house (living room, dining room, and family room), but that's for another year. Personally, I'm very happy with the outcome of the work we've done so far.

I've done whole houses by drywalling over -- you use thin slats to level the walls and give you something to nail into. As long as you aren't super-tight for space or height, it's by far the easiest solution, even allowing for the cost of removing and replacing all the baseboards. Not do-it-yourself, but avoids both asbestos and mess, pros can do the house in a couple days...

Hindsight is 20/20, but this is the exact reason why I negotiated to have the sellers pay for having popcorn removed from ceilings before I moved into a late 50s rancher with low-ish ceilings, to boot. Absolutely, positively NO WAY on earth was I going to live with that (almost always dirty) stuff over my head. Most of my neighbors still have theirs - I find it suffocating to be in those houses. Glad you found an economical alternative for now, but I wouldn't hesitate to get rid of it as soon as it works for your family.

I have removed/scraped popcorn from several ceilings in our home. It’s really not awful if you don't mind a temporary duaty mess, and is worth it. My method: Spray a 6x6 ft section using a garden sprayer. Allow to soak in for 15 min., then spray again, and hop up on your ladder. I lay a jelly roll pan on my left arm and scrape with a 4 or 6 inch scraper with my right hand. Popcorn n cobwebs fall onto the pan and its gone! i get a pro in then to do a skim coat, which gives paint something more than drywall paper to attach to. He makes it perfect, and I can paint! i need to do a couple more rooms now. BTW, you need to drape the walls, doors, furniture with plastic sheeting cuz it is dusty!