We finally got rid of the popcorn ceilings!
It’s hard to say that we’re starting the remodel on this house because we’ve been working on it consistently for the past 5 years. So, really, Phase Two of the remodel is beginning. Read: Phase More Expensive.
Last week, we escaped to the beach which you may have seen on Instagram. But what I didn’t show was that in order to do it, we had to basically move out of our house to do it. When we moved in (almost exactly 5 years ago!), we were hoping to replace the floors and remove the popcorn ceilings throughout the upper floor at the same time. The floors were hired out and we’d signed a contract. The ceilings were going to be a DIY. But because of the age of our home, before we got started, we had a company come out to do an asbestos test on the popcorn ceilings and a lead test on all the paint just to be sure. Good news - no lead! Bad news? There was asbestos in the popcorn ceilings. When I tell you I deflated like a sad balloon at the news… we simply didn’t have asbestos abatement in our budget at the time. We thought it would be a messy but doable DIY, costing us a few hundred dollars in drop cloths and respirators. Not the thousands of dollars that abatement costs. So we decided to hold off on the abatement. If you do not disturb the popcorn ceilings, the asbestos within them is not a danger. So for five years we have done everything in our power to not touch the ceilings of this house. Until last week.
We went to the beach with some of our closest friends last week and before the guys left, they played the ultimate game of Tetris, stuffing every piece of furniture and decor we own into the kitchen and bathrooms (all rooms without asbestos that could be sealed up by the abatement company). Shout out to our BFF from middle school for showing up and moving all of our stuff with Tomas - you know who you are and we’re forever grateful.
Fast forward a few days and we came home to an empty house, raw drywall ceilings, and our entire house feeling like it was turned upside down and shaken. It was a lot to walk into after travel with kids (and arriving at their bedtime no less), but it’s finally done. So now after taking the empty-house opportunity to scrub every single surface down and then moving everything back into place, I can finally say - Hallelujah, now where’s the Tylenol? (Someone please know that reference. )
Asbestos abatement and popcorn ceiling removal are not the same thing. Some drywall companies will remove popcorn ceilings, but only abatement companies should touch popcorn ceilings that contain asbestos. And when the abatement company is done, they don’t finish the drywall. We could have had a company come in and finish the drywall while we were out, too, but we intentionally left the drywall raw because our upcoming upper floor/kitchen renovation is going to require a lot of work on this drywall so we feel it best to just live with it as is for now, and have it all finished once we’re done cutting into it and patching it and everything else. It’s going to be one big open concept space and big stretches of drywall show every patch if it’s done messily. So we’re going to wait. The great news is, though, it is in fantastic shape. There are some small repairs needed but all the original drywall will be easily finished and doesn’t need replacement which makes me so relieved.
And now the breakdown you’re all wondering about… how much did it cost? The number one thing I want to be more transparent about with our renovations coming up is how much things cost, what we’re doing ourselves, and what needs to be factored into these projects. In the DIY/renovating space there’s a ton of beautiful inspiration photos and reels, all the content you could ever ask for to put on a Pinterest board. But what you really need to get started is knowing who you need to hire and how much it’s going to cost.
The total for the abatement was $4212.13 including our 8.9% tax rate. We had approximately 1000 square feet of popcorn ceiling to remove and we paid a 50% deposit. They have to cover every other surface in the room with plastic or ram board on the floors, seal all vents and doorways, and wear hazmat suits while working. A third party company comes in and checks for remnants and does an air quality check before we’re allowed back in the house. It took 2.5 days for them to finish the work and when we came back, it was eerily like they had never been here except our ceilings were bare.
Other costs to factor in would be movers, if you’re unable to move your furniture yourself, and the drywall repair afterwards. Like I mentioned above, the drywall expense will come later for us but either way, it has to be done.
When we walked in, our almost-3 year old pointed a stern finger and said “Why you break the wall mom? I don’t like it” (Break = change, Wall = ceiling); to which I replied: so we could fix it. And that’s the mindset I’m trying to keep right now. That all of this work is a means to a better home, and the space we imagined this house could be when we did our first (reluctant) walk through five years ago. There’s already a lot more in the works and I have some smaller projects I’m hoping to complete in the next couple of months too. Stay tuned! I am so excited.