Asbestos Mud
Should I remove my acoustic ceiling, or just live with it?
We just purchased a condo with an acoustic ceiling in most rooms. I hate acoustic ceilings, I think they’re gross, and difficult to paint around. We are thinking of removing it before the condo association lays our new carpet, and before we move in. We have about 20 days in which to paint and redo the ceiling if we want to.
Here is what I know:
- I have to get the acoustic tested for asbestos before attempting to remove it.
- I know you have to soak it with water, let it soften, and then scrape the acoustic off.
- I know afterward the ceiling will need to be refinished with drywall mud to correct any flaws, primed with new construction primer and possibly be retextured before painting.
What I’d like to know, is would you say it is worth the work to remove an acoustic ceiling? Will it improve the resale value of my home? How time consuming and difficult is this to do? Would you bother, or just skip it?
I did it in two bedrooms – one 10 x 15 and the other 12 x 23. Not as bad as you would think. We didn’t know to wet it at the time, just used a metal trowel and scraped it off. Left kind of a mottled appearance to the ceiling, so I used a textured paint (basically sand in the paint, mixed wall color with white and put it up) to paint the ceiling. No repair work, no asbestos, no hidden damage. We knew the builder used it because it was cheaper, but it really dated the home.
Glad we did it, and it DID help with resale when the time came a year later. Everyone that was looking in our neighborhood immediately noticed the difference.
Looked awesome, did it in less than 2 days. As long as you have the attitude “anything is better than what’s here now”, then maybe you can live with the “textured” paint look too. Who says a ceiling has to be perfectly smooth? As long as I don’t scrape my hand up when changing a light bulb, that’s good enough for me!
University of Mesothelioma