Ceiling Repair & Popcorn Removal · Kitchener
Ceiling Repair and Popcorn Ceiling Removal in Kitchener
Ceilings get the worst light in the house and the least attention until something goes wrong with them. Textured ones also hide a lot, which is the whole reason they were sprayed on.
Most of Kitchener's housing from the 1960s through the 1990s — the side-splits in Stanley Park and Forest Heights, the two-storeys in Country Hills and Laurentian, the townhouses through Williamsburg — has textured ceilings. Removing them is now one of the most requested jobs in the trade, and the ceiling repairs that come with older houses (sags, cracks along the joists, stains) are often done at the same time.
Before anything is scraped: test it
Sprayed texture and the joint compound under it from before roughly 1990 can contain asbestos. We do not scrape a textured ceiling of that age until a sample has been tested by a lab. If it comes back positive, the ceiling is not scraped — it is either left in place and covered with a new layer of board, or removed by a licensed abatement contractor under Ontario's asbestos regulation, which is their trade and not ours. A test is inexpensive and it is not optional. If it comes back clean, the work proceeds as below.
Two ways to get rid of a popcorn ceiling
- Scrape and skim. The texture is wetted and scraped off, the ceiling is skimmed to Level 5, sanded and primed. It is the cleaner result on a ceiling that is sound underneath, and the messier process while it is happening — the room is emptied and sealed in plastic, floor to ceiling.
- Overlay. A new layer of 12.7 mm (1/2 in) board is screwed through the old ceiling into the joists, then taped and finished. Faster, far less mess, no scraping, and the right answer when the old ceiling is painted texture that will not come off cleanly, has been patched repeatedly, or tested positive and the owner would rather encapsulate than abate. It lowers the ceiling by the thickness of the board, which matters in a basement and does not matter in a living room.
Ceiling repairs
- Sagging board. Usually fasteners that have let go, board that was hung too thin for the joist spacing, or old water. It is screwed back up to the joists if sound, or cut out and replaced if not.
- Cracks along a line. A straight crack following a joist or a truss is movement; it is re-taped, and on truss ceilings the wall corner is floated so it can move without cracking again.
- Water stains. The leak is found and fixed first. Then the board is checked for softness, replaced if it has been wet through, and stain-blocked before priming so the mark does not bleed back through the new paint.
- Pot light cut-ins. Where an electrician has opened a ceiling for new fixtures, the misses and oversize holes are patched and blended.
What to expect
A scrape-and-skim ceiling is a multi-day job in an emptied room: a day to protect and scrape, then the skim coats drying between visits, then sanding and priming. An overlay is usually quicker. Either way the room is out of use for the duration, and the quote spells out how long.
Frequently asked questions
Does my ceiling have asbestos?
If the texture went on before about 1990 it might, and the only way to know is a lab test of a sample. We test first on any ceiling of that age and do not scrape until the result is back. A positive result means overlay or a licensed abatement contractor, not us with a scraper.
Is it cheaper to scrape or to cover with new drywall?
It depends on the ceiling. Scraping unpainted texture off sound board is often the less expensive route; painted or repeatedly patched texture is slow to scrape and an overlay can come out ahead. The site visit decides it, and the cost page gives the planning ranges.
Can you remove the popcorn and leave the ceiling ready to paint?
Yes. The ceiling is skimmed, sanded and primed. Painting is separate, and a primed ceiling is the normal hand-off.
Serving Kitchener and surrounding areas. Contact us for a no-obligation quote specific to your property.