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Q: What does it cost to replace cottage cheese ceilings?

My wife's parent's house has cottage cheese ceilings. They are thinking of selling the house and we are trying to convince them to remove the cottage cheese. We believe this fix will make the house much more attractive to buyers in our age bracket. We are fairly certain there is no asbestos. If they replace these ceilings, what will it cost and how much of a mess will this be? Also, any idea on the timeframe? Their house is a 3 bedroom with an upstairs and a downstairs. I am not certain on the square footage.

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    It all depends on if your ceilings contain asbestos or not. The first thing you need to do is to have them tested. You can find asbestos contractors in all phone books and/or Google search. If your ceilings test positive for asbestos, your asbestos removal contractor will take it from there (very expensive). If your ceilings test negative, removal is pretty simple.

    To remove the popcorn ceilings, use a hand pump sprayer to spray water in 4' by 4' area on your ceiling. While the area is wet, scrape off the popcorn with a six inch broad knife. Repeat this step until you have scraped off all the popcorn. Let the ceiling dry for about an hour or two and then sand whole ceiling with a sanding pole to knock down any excess popcorn. Now you will need to apply topping mud on all exposed taping seems. You will need two coats and you will have to sand between coats. Prime all ceilings with Zinsser's Bulls Eye 1-2-3. Apply one coat of interior latex flat paint. Estimated time to do the job should be about three 8-hour days. Cost is fairly cheap if you do it yourself (about $300.00 for the materials). The mess you will create will be huge!!!!!! You will need lots of garbage bags and plastic lots!!!

    Please remember: almost certain it is not asbestos is not acceptable!!!!!! This is a matter of your health and/or others health which can lead to multiple lawsuits. My bottom line recommendation is have to have it all done by a professional with insurance (a Painting or Drywall contractor).

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    Dec 12, 2019

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