261 Broadway: popcorn ceiling removal

It is possible but unlikely that the popcorn contains asbestos. Unpainted popcorn comes off easily with water and a scraper. You may not have true popcorn but sand paint, and even if you have popcorn it probably has 5 coats of paint on it. If either of the latter, this is very messy, time consuming and will cost way more than you might think. We have exposed beams so it was at least twice as much work to do the beams and get crisp edges, and it was part of an overall renovation. But this line item was +/- $20K for about 1400 sq ft to sand off the sand paint and skim coat.

I have recently had the same job done, and couldn't agree more with nyc_sport. It turned out to be an absolute nightmare. The mess generated pretty much trashed the rest of the apartment so doing it in isolation really doesn't make sense. If I'd have known now how much trouble it was going to be and the cost of doing it and fixing up the mess, I probably would have put the extra 50k into an apartment that didn't have popcorn to start with.

Agree with "TreyBuik" above in that the removal is a mess... don't count on saving your window (dressings), floors, walls from the devestaion. It's so much better after the popcorns are removed, but we were quoted between $6-10k for the removal in a 700sqft unit. This was done in conjunction wtih a gut, but the popcorn removal was the messiest part, and surprisingly expensive given that no additional materials were involved.

Thank you all for weighing in! Your insights are very helpful!!!

My least favorite thing to do is remove popcorn ceiling, I cannot charge enough. The mess is a nightmare but it is also a nightmare to remove it. I try to encourage my clients to laminate the ceiling with sheetrock, less expensive and much easier

My relatives had this problem and found it was easier, cleaner & much cheaper to just put new drywall over the popcorn.
They lost 1/2" ceiling height (out of standard 8'), but it is not at all evident .

Raddoc, that's so informative... Knowing that only about a 1/2" of ceiling height would be lost by using drywall to hide the popcorn. I really appreciate everybody's comments and time that you took out to share your knowledge !

My friend chose to put sheetrock over popcorn too, and it turned out to be much cheaper and easier. Like raddoc said there could be minor loss of ceiling height depending on sheetock thickness and whether furring strips are needed (on concrete ceilings). Also there will be a risk of sagging

One tool that reduces the mess is a Homax Ceiling Texture Scraper. You can attach a bag to the scraper so that most of the debris falls into the bag. See http://homaxproducts.com/Ceiling-Texture-Scraper

The very idea of even expressing the desire to remove a P.C. is an affront & insult to the Reddenbacher family.

I can only hope & pray they don't see these comments. Shame on you all - really!

Did you take the top floor apartment? I saw the popcorn in there you can remove it for about 5 grand.