Randy’s Painting & Drywall

Quakertown, Bucks County

Popcorn ceiling removal in Quakertown, PA.

About one Quakertown home in five dates from the 1970s, more than from any other decade since 1940. Ceilings of that age, and of the two decades before, are where popcorn texture is found.

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A room with its ceiling part-way through a skim coat, a painter working beneath it among tools and buckets.
A ceiling mid skim coat.

Popcorn ceiling removal for Quakertown homes

Bucks County's largest burst of house building in raw numbers came between 1970 and 1980, and the borough followed the same curve: about 22 percent of its homes date from the 1970s, the most of any decade since 1940. With the 1950s and 1960s added, roughly four in ten homes here come from the years when ceilings were routinely sprayed with acoustic texture.

That puts a lab test at the start of most popcorn jobs in town. Texture applied before the mid-1980s may contain asbestos, so an accredited professional samples it before it is disturbed. A positive result means a certified asbestos abatement contractor removes it; a clear one means the room is sealed, the texture is wetted and scraped, and the ceiling is repaired and skimmed before primer and paint.

Quakertown

The 1970s, the borough's busiest decade since 1940

The historic district takes in most of the borough, and its character is masonry: large, square, two-and-a-half-story houses of stone and brick, twins and rows among them. Ceilings in those houses were plaster from the start, so popcorn there is the exception rather than the rule. The district also holds later infill, late Cape Cods, ranches and two-story Colonial Revival houses, mostly brick, and those later houses are where original texture is more plausible.

Richland Township, which surrounds the borough, is mostly newer: more than two-thirds of its homes date from 1980 or later, three in ten from the 2000s alone. Its roughly one home in four from 1940 to 1979 is where an original sprayed ceiling is likeliest there, and the township's 2000s houses fall well after the years of concern for asbestos.

A smooth white kitchen ceiling with recessed lights and a ceiling fan above glass-front wood cabinets.
A finished kitchen ceiling. Mike Galuppo’s photograph, from his Google review.

Worth knowing

  1. Settle the lighting first

    If recessed lights are coming, their positions are decided before the skim coat, so the openings are cut and patched ahead of the finish coats rather than after them.

  2. Plaster in the masonry houses

    In the district's stone and brick houses, a sprayed ceiling sits on plaster that may have cracked as the house settled. Those cracks are repaired before the skim coat.

  3. Outside work is a separate question

    Most of the borough is National Register-listed, and listing alone doesn't restrict private owners. Ceiling work stays indoors; anything planned for the exterior is worth raising with the borough's code and zoning office.

The work

How the work goes

The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to popcorn ceiling removal.

Two painters working a ceiling on poles and a ladder, the kitchen below sealed in clear plastic.
Ceiling work, the room sealed in plastic.

  1. The walkthrough

    Randy looks at the ceilings with you, how they were built and how the rooms are lit, and explains what removal and refinishing will involve. You get a written estimate; like the walkthrough, it is complimentary.

  2. Test before anything else

    If the texture may date from before the mid-1980s, a sample has to be taken by an accredited asbestos professional and tested by a lab before the ceiling is touched. If it tests positive, the job belongs to a certified asbestos abatement contractor, not a painter.

  3. Containment

    The room is emptied, floors and walls are sheeted in plastic, and power to the ceiling fixtures is shut off. The texture comes down as wet, heavy debris, and it should stay inside the room it came from.

  4. Wet scraping

    The texture is misted lightly, given time to soften, and scraped off in small sections. Too much water can damage the drywall beneath it, and painted texture resists water, so it needs a slower approach.

  5. Repair and skim

    Gouges, open seams and loose tape are repaired, then the ceiling is skim-coated so it reads flat under side light. Each coat dries before it is sanded, which is where most of the time goes.

  6. Prime and paint

    The finished ceiling is primed so compound and bare paper take paint evenly. It is then painted, usually in a flat finish that keeps minor flaws overhead from catching the light.

Questions

Popcorn ceiling removal, Quakertown.

Our brick ranch was built inside the historic district in the 1950s. Is the popcorn original?

It may well be. Houses of that decade were among the first to get sprayed ceilings, and texture of that age predates the mid-1980s cutoff, so an accredited professional should sample it before anything is scraped. A clear result lets the texture come off and the ceiling be skimmed smooth.

We're moving into a 1970s house in the borough. What order should the work go in?

Test first, ideally before the furniture arrives, since an empty house makes the whole job simpler. Then the ceilings come down and are skimmed, primed and painted, the walls follow, and floors are finished last.

Do you remove popcorn ceilings in Richland Township and Trumbauersville?

Yes. Randy serves the borough, Richland Township and Richlandtown, Milford Township and Trumbauersville. In Richland, the homes from before 1980, about a third of the township, are where textured ceilings are likeliest.

More in Quakertown

Other services here.

  1. Level 5 drywall finishA skim coat over the entire surface, for walls that hold up under raking light and dark paint.
  2. Skim coatingRough, patched or uneven walls resurfaced smooth, often after wallpaper comes down.
  3. Plaster repairCracked, loose and failing plaster in older homes, repaired and made sound.
  4. Interior paintingWalls, ceilings, trim, doors and millwork, prepared properly and finished clean.
  5. Exterior paintingSiding, trim, porches, stucco and brick, prepared to stand up to Pennsylvania weather.
  6. Drywall installation & repairNew drywall hung, taped and finished; cracks, holes and water damage repaired invisibly.
  7. Drywall texture matching & removalTexture matched so repairs disappear, applied where you want it, or taken off for a smooth wall.
  8. Wallpaper removalOld wallpaper and wall linings stripped without tearing up the wall beneath.
  9. Wood stainingDecks, porch floors, doors and trim, inside and out, stained by hand.

Consultation

Request a private consultation.

Private walkthrough & written estimate, complimentary. Tell us a little about the house and the rooms, and Randy will be in touch to arrange a time.

Hours
Monday – Friday8:30 AM – 5:30 PMSaturday10 AM – 3 PMSundayClosed
Service area
Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown and the greater Lehigh Valley; Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Fully insured — proof on request. Residential and commercial.

Randy’sPainting & DrywallReply card
The project
Preferred contact

Walkthrough & written estimate, complimentary.