Popcorn ceiling removal in Silver Spring: flat ceilings change a room
Popcorn ceiling removal in Silver Spring, MD is a high-impact update for 1960s and 70s homes. The bumpy texture dates a room fast. It traps dust. It fights every paint job. Under it is plain drywall, waiting for a smooth finish.
The safety step comes first
Texture from before the mid-1980s can hold asbestos, so we never guess. Get it tested by a licensed inspector before anyone scrapes. A clean test means we remove it the normal way. A positive test means a licensed abatement firm handles it — we do not perform abatement, but we handle the drywall rebuild after clearance. See asbestos safety.
How the removal goes
- Seal the room. Plastic on walls. Floors covered. Vents sealed.
- Wet and scrape. Water loosens the texture. We scrape it off in sheets.
- Repair the board. Scrape damage and old patches get fixed.
- Skim and sand. Full skim coat. Sanded flat.
- Finish. Smooth and paint-ready.
Most customers paint right after. We leave the ceiling smooth and paint-ready; your painter takes it from there.
How it works: popcorn removal
Every removal follows the same safe sequence. No shortcuts. Here is what to expect in your home.
Test first. Texture that could predate the mid-1980s gets tested for asbestos by a licensed inspector. We wait for a clean result before anyone scrapes. This step is not optional.
Seal the room. Plastic goes over walls and floors. Vents get sealed shut. The mess stays in one room.
Wet and scrape. We wet the texture so it loosens. Then we scrape it off in sheets. Wet scraping keeps dust way down.
Repair the board. Under old texture we often find dings and old patches. We fix them now, before the skim coat.
Skim, sand, finish. A full skim coat over the ceiling. Sanded flat. Smooth and paint-ready when we leave.
What to expect on timing
A bedroom ceiling takes two to three days. Day one is removal. Day two is skim and sand. Larger rooms take longer.
A whole house of popcorn is a week or more. We go room by room. You keep living in the house. We seal each room as we work.
The asbestos test adds a few days up front if your texture is old enough to need it. We schedule around the lab, not the other way around.
Cover it or scrape it
Two honest options exist. Scrape it off. Or hang new drywall over it. Both end with a flat ceiling.
Scraping keeps your ceiling height. It is the right call in rooms with standard eight-foot ceilings. Most of our jobs go this way.
Covering is faster in labor. New board goes right over the old. But the ceiling drops by half an inch. In low rooms, that matters.
We price both options on the free visit. You pick. No pressure either way.
Silver Spring popcorn notes
Popcorn texture is all over 1960s and 70s Silver Spring homes. Ramblers and split-levels and garden apartments. We remove it every week.
Older texture gets tested. Newer texture skips the test. The build year of your home usually tells us which path applies.
After removal, paint makes the ceiling disappear. Flat white is the classic. Your painter picks up from there.
What to ask on your free visit
Popcorn jobs have one big variable: what is under the texture. Ask these on the visit.
- Does my texture need an asbestos test before you scrape?
- Scrape or cover — which is smarter for my ceiling height?
- What will you do about the dings you find underneath?
- How do you keep the dust out of the rest of the house?
- How do I coordinate paint after you finish?
Most rooms take two to three days from start to finish. We work clean and keep you posted. When we leave, the ceiling is smooth and ready for paint.
What it costs
Removal prices per foot or per room. Ceiling height and board condition move the number.
A note on prices: costs go up and down. No two jobs are the same. Treat numbers here as starting points, not quotes. Your written estimate is the real number for your project.
Call (301) 679-9193 for a free visit.
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