Texture scraped, ceiling re-floated, and finished smooth or retextured.
Popcorn removal is one of those jobs that looks like it should be simple and punishes that assumption. The scraping is the easy part. Anyone can scrape.
What separates a good popcorn job from a bad one is what happens after the scraping, because what is underneath that texture is almost never a finished ceiling. It is drywall that was hung, taped to a minimum standard, and then sprayed over — because the texture was there to hide the finish work. Take the texture off and you expose every seam, every fastener, and every place someone did the bare minimum in 1978 knowing it would be covered.
We are going to be blunt about this because it matters more than anything else on this page.
Popcorn texture applied before the early 1980s can contain asbestos. It was a common additive. If your home is from that era and the popcorn has never been tested, we do not scrape it until it has been.
This is not us being difficult. Scraping asbestos-containing texture aerosolizes it into a fine dust throughout your house, and that is a genuinely serious health exposure — for you, for your family, and for whoever is doing the scraping. Testing is inexpensive, it is fast, and it takes the question off the table entirely.
If the test comes back positive, that is abatement work and it goes to a licensed abatement contractor, not to us. If it comes back clean, we get to work.
Homes built after the mid-1980s are generally not a concern. If you are not sure what you have, tell us the build year when you call and we will tell you whether testing makes sense.
Popcorn removal is the messiest thing we do. It is not close. Wet-scraped texture comes down in heavy grey slop, and it goes everywhere. Floors get covered, walls get masked, anything that stays in the room gets sealed, and the doorways get closed off.
Getting this right is most of the difference between a job you can live with and a job that leaves your house feeling contaminated for a month.
Texture gets misted and given time to soften. Wet scraping is dramatically cleaner than dry, and it is much gentler on the drywall underneath — dry scraping gouges paper, and every gouge is more repair work later.
One complication worth knowing: if the popcorn has been painted, it does not want to absorb water. Painted popcorn is substantially harder to remove and takes longer. If you know yours has been painted, say so when you call, because it changes the job.
This is the step people do not budget for, and it is the step that decides whether the finished ceiling looks good. With the texture off, you can see the tape lines, the fastener dimples, the seams that were floated once and called done. All of it has to be re-floated.
Effectively, the ceiling gets finished properly for the first time in its life. This is not an upsell, it is just what is under there.
Then the ceiling gets skim-coated flat. Not spot-repaired — floated as a whole surface, because a ceiling with good seams and bad field is still a bad ceiling under raking light.
Then it is your call. Smooth is the modern default and it looks clean, but it is the least forgiving finish there is — every imperfection shows, which is exactly why it has to be floated properly first. Or you can take a light knockdown or orange peel, which looks current and forgives more. See our texture work if you want the new ceiling to match texture elsewhere in the house.
If yours has been painted, say so on the phone, because it changes the scope materially.
Wet scraping is what makes this work cleanly. Texture that has absorbed water softens and comes off in sheets with minimal damage to the paper underneath. Dry scraping gouges the board, and every gouge is more compound work later.
Paint is a moisture barrier. That is its job. So painted popcorn does not absorb the mist, which means it does not soften, which means it fights the scraper and takes the paper with it when it finally lets go.
It is still doable. It takes considerably longer, it is harder on the ceiling underneath, and it means more repair work in the refloat stage. A quote that does not account for it is a quote from someone who did not ask.
Since we will not scrape untested texture in a pre-1980s home, here is what that actually involves so it does not sound like an obstacle.
A small sample gets taken and sent to a lab. It is inexpensive, and results generally come back quickly. That is the entire process.
Clean result and we schedule the work. Positive result and it goes to a licensed abatement contractor — not to us, and not to anyone who offers to just be careful about it. Scraping asbestos-containing texture aerosolizes it through your house, and no amount of care changes that.
Tell us the build year when you call and we will tell you whether testing is worth doing.
Worth setting expectations, because this is the most disruptive work we do.
The room comes out first — anything that can leave, leaves. What stays gets sealed, not draped. Floors get covered wall to wall. Doorways get closed off, and the HVAC in the work area gets dealt with, because a running system will distribute wet texture dust through the whole house.
Then misting and scraping, which produces a heavy grey slop that goes everywhere gravity allows. Then the scraped ceiling has to dry before any compound goes on it.
Then the refloat, in coats, with drying time between each. Then texture or smooth finish. This is not a one-day job for a whole ceiling and anyone telling you it is has not budgeted for the drying.
The part of the quote people push back on, so here is the reasoning.
Popcorn was sprayed on to hide the finish work. That is what it was for. Which means the seams underneath were taped to a minimum standard and the fasteners got one quick pass, because everyone on that job knew it was about to be covered by texture.
Take the texture off and every bit of that is exposed. Tape lines, fastener dimples, seams that were floated once and called done. Skip the refloat and put a smooth finish over it and you have a ceiling that displays forty-year-old shortcuts in raking light.
Effectively, the ceiling gets finished properly for the first time in its life. A removal quote that does not include it is a quote from someone who has not done many of these.
We do not do asbestos abatement. If the test comes back positive, that goes to a licensed abatement contractor — not us, and not anyone who tells you they will just be careful about it.
We do not paint. We do not remodel or frame. We do not do plumbing or roofing, so if there is ceiling damage with a live source above it, that comes first.
If your popcorn is intact, unstained, and you do not actively dislike it, there is no structural reason to remove it. This is a cosmetic decision and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
Where it earns its cost is when the alternative is worse: damage that would need a difficult match, several repairs on one ceiling that all have to agree, yellowing across a wide area, or a repaint you are doing anyway.
Allen is mostly newer construction, and the drywall profile follows directly from that: settlement cracks in homes still finding their level, and production knockdown on nearly every wall.
Need this handled? See popcorn ceiling removal. And if you have other drywall damage in the same visit, tell us on the phone — multiple repairs done together are more efficient than one at a time, because the mud coats dry in parallel.
For the full picture of what we handle locally, see the work we do in Allen.
Tell us what happened and roughly how big the area is. A photo texted over usually settles the scope in a minute.
You get the scope and the number before we start. Patch versus sheet replacement, texture type, and how many coats it needs.
We cut, hang, tape, float, and match texture, then clean the space. Most single-room repairs are done inside one visit.
Based in Plano, covering Allen across the North Dallas metro. Text a photo for a free virtual estimate, or call and describe the damage.
Our pricing starts at $300 for any job, however small. Beyond that it depends on the size of the damage, the texture that has to be matched, and how many coats the finish needs. Text a photo to (972) 469-5046 for a free virtual estimate and we will give you a real number, not a placeholder range.
Virtual estimates are free — text or email a photo and we will come back with a real number, no charge and no obligation. In-person estimates are $100, credited back against your job when you book with us. For most repairs a clear photo is all we need.
Most single-room repairs are handled in one visit. Larger areas, or repairs that need multiple mud coats to dry properly, can run into a second day. We tell you which one you are looking at up front.
Yes. Matching the surrounding texture is part of the repair, not an add-on. A flat patch with the wrong texture still reads as a repair.
Yes. Allen is inside our service area. Call (972) 469-5046 to get on the schedule.
Build year is the first signal — pre-1980s texture may contain it, later almost certainly does not. But the only way to actually know is a test, which is inexpensive and fast. We will not scrape untested texture from a home of that era. Tell us the build year when you call and we will tell you whether testing makes sense.
Yes, significantly. Paint keeps the texture from absorbing water, and wet scraping is what makes the job clean and gentle on the drywall underneath. Painted popcorn takes longer and is harder on the ceiling below it. Mention it when you call so the scope is right.
