re: Getting rid of popcorn ceilings?

Contractor will be very expensive because hugh likelihood that it contains asbestos. Years of asbestos experience tells me that the friable material will costs roughly $8-$10 per sf to abate.

Congrats on making me get the red ink pen out.

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Contractor will be very expensive because hugh likelihood that it contains asbestos. Years of asbestos experience tells me that the friable material will costs roughly $8-$10 per sf to abate.

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There shouldn't be a problem with asbestos if the house was built in the last 35 years.

so why is it tougher to do if it's painted as opposed to non?

I have personally done almost every room in my house. See steps below from my experience. Doing it this way takes a good bit of time to prep but you will be thankful when it's time to clean up.

1. Plastic on floor and at least 3/4 high up the wall. Trust me, go up the wall.
2. Puf brown contractor paper under the plastic on the floor. Tape the seams with painters tape.
3. Get a 1 gal. pump sprayer (like what you put weed killer in) and dampen ceiling in 5'×5' sections

True dat. Water, dust mask, and a good rinse and change of clothes diminishes risk.

The problem with removing it is it's usually covering a shitty drywall ceiling installation. The original drywall installer new it was getting texture so very little effort was made to tape and make smooth joints.

U may as well plan on at least a skim coat on everything.

If the popcorn ceiling has shiny gold fleck it is probably asbestos containing. In fact, a large problem in older schools across the country is sprayed on ceiling texture that contains asbestos.

Lots of "sheetrock mud-like materials" contained asbestos because it is a good binder. I would say that in 75% of the inspections of structures that I do, contain asbestos in some form of "mud".

In fact, you can still purchase sheetrock mud in the USA that contains asbestos today. Consumers should look for "asbestos free" mud and vinyl floor tile. Tons of chinese goods are brought into the USA every year that are not asbestos free. Another common misconception is that asbestos was banned across the board back in the 70's. That isn't true. Some building materials out there can still contain asbestos. You just have to read the labels.

I'd say if the house was built before 1980, spend $200 and have some samples collected of the ceiling material. If it does contain asbestos, it is friable. Your scraping job will become exponentially more expensive at that point.

Anyone ever remodeled their ceiling to raise it from 8ft to maybe 9 or 10ft? Maybe even a vaulted ceiling?