DO IT YOURSELF:
0 Comments | Sunday Gazette – Mail; Charleston, W.V., Apr 26, 2009 | by Gene Austin
Q:I bought a house that is 100-plus years old and am trying to figure out what to do about a popcorn ceiling in the bathroom. Should I remove it, replace it or what?
A:Just one of the problems with old popcorn ceilings is that they might contain asbestos. If the popcorn, or rough-textured material, was installed prior to about 1978, there is a good chance it contains asbestos. Before considering removal – a very messy, laborious process at best – you should test for asbestos. Do-it- yourself test kits are available at some home centers or online at www.prolabinc .com. A kit costs about $30 and includes a lab test of your sample.
For more general information on dealing with asbestos, which can be a health hazard if particles get into the air and are breathed, visit www.epa.gov/ asbestos/pubs/ashome.html. If the popcorn does contain asbestos and you want it removed, the work should be done by experts. There is information on this at the EPA asbestos site. If the popcorn does not contain asbestos and you want to remove it yourself, cover everything underneath it to collect the mess that will fall. Spray a small section at a time with warm water containing a little detergent, let it soak until the popcorn softens, then scrape it off with a wide drywall scraper.
Possibly the most practical thing you could do with the ceiling is to leave the popcorn in place and have it covered with drywall. This encapsulates the popcorn and gives you a clean new ceiling that you can paint or wallpaper.
If the popcorn is in good condition and is simply dirty, you might want to consider painting it. It is difficult to paint popcorn with latex paint because the water-based paint can loosen some of the popcorn. Readers have told me that they successfully painted the stuff by first carefully applying an oil-based primer. Once the primer is dry, latex paint can be applied with light passes of a paint roller.
Flexible solution
Flexible connectors can significantly speed up and simplify do- it-yourself installations of faucets and toilets. Braided stainless- steel connectors, which usually cost less than $5 each, attach directly to the water-supply lines without any cutting or fitting. If a connector is too long, make a bend or loop in it to fit shorter spaces
remove popcorn ceiling