Randy’s Painting & Drywall

Nazareth, Northampton County

Popcorn ceiling removal in Nazareth, PA.

Around a third of the borough's homes date from 1940 to 1979, between its cement-era streets and the new subdivisions outside it. Those are the ceilings where popcorn texture usually turns up.

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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.

Popcorn ceiling removal for Nazareth homes

Most of Nazareth was built too early for popcorn. Just over half of the historic district's buildings were up by 1899 and another third by 1938, many of them for workers at the cement plants, and their ceilings were plastered. About a third of the borough's homes came after, from 1940 to 1979, and those are the ones where sprayed acoustic texture is a regular find.

Texture of that age deserves a lab result before anyone touches it. Material sprayed before the mid-1980s can contain asbestos, so an accredited professional takes a sample for testing first, and a positive finding hands the removal to a certified asbestos abatement contractor. A negative one opens the way to the usual sequence: the room sealed in plastic, the texture softened and scraped, the ceiling repaired and skim-coated, then primed and painted.

Nazareth

Between the cement-era core and the new subdivisions

The streets laid out parallel to Center and Main filled with two-and-a-half-story brick and frame houses before 1940, and their plaster ceilings have had the better part of a century to crack. Where one of them now carries a spray texture, it went on during a later remodel, which means the plaster underneath needs a close look once it is bare. The stone buildings from before 1858, the oldest in town, were plastered too.

Outside the borough the dates shift. Roughly a quarter or more of the homes in Lower Nazareth and Bushkill townships date from the 1960s and 1970s, prime years for a sprayed ceiling, while Upper Nazareth is mostly post-1980, with nearly half its homes built since 2000. Stockertown, with about four in ten homes from before 1940, sits closer to the borough's pattern of plaster overhead.

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

Worth knowing

  1. Cement-era ceilings

    Houses built for cement workers between 1900 and 1938 were plastered. Texture sprayed over them later can hide cracks that have to be repaired once it comes off.

  2. Bushkill and Lower Nazareth

    A ceiling original to a 1960s or 1970s house in either township sits inside the testing window, so it is sampled first.

  3. Upper Nazareth's newer houses

    Texture original to a house built well after the mid-1980s falls outside the asbestos question, and the job goes straight to containment, scraping and the skim coat.

The work

How the work goes

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

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.

  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, Nazareth.

Our 1920s house in the borough has a popcorn ceiling. Is that original?

No. Sprayed acoustic texture came into common use from the 1950s, so on a 1920s ceiling it was added later, most likely over the original plaster. Unless you know it went up after the mid-1980s, have a sample tested before it is disturbed.

Does the National Register listing affect work on a ceiling?

Not on its own. The Nazareth Historic District has been on the National Register since 1988, and listing places no restrictions on what a private owner does with private funds; a ceiling is indoor work in any case. For changes to the outside of a district house, check with the borough.

Can a popcorn ceiling simply be left alone?

Yes, if it is in good condition and nothing is going to disturb it, which is federal guidance for texture that might contain asbestos. It is when you plan to scrape, sand, drill or relight the ceiling that a test becomes the first step.

More in Nazareth

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.