Popcorn Ceiling Removal in Central Florida

Popcorn ceilings turn up constantly in homes here built between roughly 1965 and 1986, which covers a lot of the older Clermont and Leesburg housing stock and most of the original Lake County ranch homes.

Before anything else: if the house was built before 1987, the popcorn may contain asbestos. It is cheap to find out - a lab test on a sample runs about $50 to $100 - and it is the right first step. We do not scrape untested pre-1987 ceilings. If it tests positive the work belongs with a licensed abatement contractor, not with us, and we will tell you that plainly.

For ceilings that test clear, or homes built after 1986, removal is wet scraping: mist the ceiling, let it soak so the texture releases instead of tearing the paper facing, scrape it off, then skim the whole ceiling to level out the scrape marks and the old texture's bond lines. Skipping the skim coat is why some popcorn removals end up looking worse than the popcorn did.

Then it is your choice of finish. Knockdown is the regional default and hides the most. A true level-five smooth ceiling is achievable but takes more coats and shows every imperfection under Florida's low afternoon light, so it costs more and we will be honest about which rooms suit it.