3 Solutions for a Popcorn Ceiling

The best method depends on your situation and your skills

- Jason White

Millions of homes have “popcorn” texture applied to ceilings. And while it does a pretty decent job of masking small imperfections in old plaster and drywall, this texture is a little out of fashion and notorious for trapping dust and cobwebs. It’s also tough to make a good-looking repair with it. There’s good news, however: You’ve got some options for dealing with an old popcorn ceiling.

1. Cover it with drywall

It’s not an easy project, but there are some good reasons to consider installing drywall directly over your popcorn ceiling (and some good reasons not to).

Pros:

No texture to scrape off. Scraping, even wet-scraping, is hard, messy work. And if the popcorn texture is painted, it’ll be even harder to scrape off.

Lower asbestos risk. Popcorn texture applied before 1980 might contain asbestos, which poses a lung cancer danger if disturbed and inhaled. Covering the ceiling with drywall minimizes your risk because there’s no scraping involved.

No repairs to make. If you have problems like flaking texture, stains, cracks or holes in your ceiling, you can skip trying to fix all those things by covering them up. Hanging new drywall over the old ceiling gives you a fresh start!

Cons:

It’s a big job. Drywall is heavy, and lugging full sheets around—especially up and down stairs—is hard work. Plus, most of the work you’ll be doing is overhead, so be ready for a sore neck and shoulders. Applying tape and joint compound to seams also takes skill and practice to master.