Randy’s Painting & Drywall

Bethlehem, Northampton and Lehigh Counties

Popcorn ceiling removal in Bethlehem, PA.

Nearly half of Bethlehem's homes went up between 1940 and 1979, the decades of sprayed ceilings. Those ceilings can come down smooth once any older texture has been tested.

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

Popcorn ceiling removal for Bethlehem homes

The city's housing has a broad middle. About a quarter of its homes were built between 1940 and 1959 and nearly another quarter between 1960 and 1979, which covers most of the years when ceilings were sprayed with acoustic texture rather than finished smooth. Not every house got it, but a popcorn ceiling in a home from those years is a common sight here.

That texture can be older than it looks. Anything sprayed before the mid-1980s may contain asbestos, so the sensible first step is a sample taken by an accredited professional and analyzed by a lab, with the ceiling left alone until the result is back. Positive means a certified asbestos abatement contractor takes the texture down; negative means it can be wet-scraped in a sealed room and the ceiling skimmed smooth for paint.

Bethlehem

South Side rows, Mount Airy plaster, postwar ceilings

The older third of the city is a different ceiling altogether. Brick row homes went up on the South Side for immigrant families working the mills, the historic district there dates mostly from about 1900 to 1935, and Mount Airy's large houses were built mainly between 1910 and 1930. Houses of those years were plastered when they were built, and on those streets a popcorn ceiling is the exception.

Past the city line the picture flips again. About two-thirds of the homes in Bethlehem Township and in Hanover Township have been built since 1980, so popcorn there is mostly a question for the older third, while Fountain Hill, with more than 40 percent of its homes from before 1940, leans toward plaster. In a city with this many building eras, the age of a house is the first clue to what is overhead, and a lab result is the last word.

A ceiling and walls patched in white compound, a work table of tools in the middle of the room.
Ceiling and walls, patched mid-job.

Worth knowing

  1. Sixty years of repainting

    A popcorn ceiling that has been in a family house since the 1960s has often been rolled with paint at least once. Paint seals the texture against water, so it is broken up dry before misting, and the work goes slower.

  2. Plaster above some 1940s texture

    Some of the city's 1940s homes may have plaster on rock lath above the texture rather than drywall. Plaster takes misting better, but its old cracks show the moment the ceiling is bare.

  3. Test before the electrician

    Cutting in one recessed light disturbs old texture as surely as scraping the whole room. In a city where nearly half the homes date from 1940 to 1979, the sample comes before any new holes.

The work

How the work goes

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

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.

  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, Bethlehem.

We live in a South Side brick row. Is our ceiling likely to be popcorn?

Less likely than in a postwar house. The South Side's historic district dates mostly from about 1900 to 1935, when ceilings were plastered, so texture there was a later addition and may be hiding cracks. It gets tested before it is disturbed all the same, because a later coat can still predate the mid-1980s.

Our house was built in the late 1940s. Could there be plaster under the texture?

It could. Plaster on rock lath was still going into houses of that decade alongside early drywall, and the two behave differently once the texture comes off. The walkthrough is the time to look, without disturbing anything, and the test result decides what happens next.

Who takes the sample, and who removes the texture if it is positive?

An accredited asbestos professional takes the sample and a lab analyzes it; that is not a painter's job. If the result is positive, a certified asbestos abatement contractor removes the texture. Once that work is finished, the bare ceiling still needs repairs, a skim coat, primer and paint, which is the part a painter does.

More in Bethlehem

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.