Do Popcorn Ceilings Contain Asbestos in Ontario?

Which popcorn ceilings might contain asbestos?

Any popcorn ceiling in a home built before about 1990 might, and so might any textured ceiling of unknown age. Asbestos was added to some of these textures, not all. The fibres are too small to see, so only a lab can tell.

Popcorn ceilings are also called stipple, stucco, acoustic or cottage-cheese ceilings. The texture was sprayed on to hide rough drywall and soften sound. It was common from the 1950s to the 1980s, in GTA homes from post-war bungalows to condo towers.

Ontario's guide to its asbestos regulation lists textured coatings, acoustical plaster and joint compounds among suspect materials. Canada banned the import, sale and use of asbestos products in 2018, but older materials can still contain it.

Two things make a house harder to judge:

• Later work. A room may have been re-sprayed or patched long after the house was built. The age of the texture matters, not just the age of the house.
• Hidden layers. Paint over popcorn can hide its age, and the drywall joints above it hold old joint compound. That compound is a suspect material too, as covered in How Are Nail Pops, Cracks and Holes Fixed Before Painting?

Is a popcorn ceiling with asbestos dangerous if you leave it alone?

Not while it stays intact. Health Canada says asbestos materials in good condition pose no significant health risk when left undisturbed. The risk comes from scraping, sanding, drilling or anything else that releases fibres into the air.

Breathed in, asbestos fibres can cause lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma. Until the ceiling has been tested:

• Don't scrape, sand or drill it, or hang anything new from it.
• Don't replace a light fixture or cut in pot lights without a test first.
• Check it after any roof or plumbing leak. Damp texture can loosen, sag and fall.
• If some has already come down, keep people and pets out of the room. Don't sweep it up or use a household vacuum, which can spread fine fibres. Have it tested before anyone cleans up.

Health Canada's page on the health risks of asbestos lists other household materials to watch for.

How do you test a popcorn ceiling for asbestos?

A trained person takes small samples of the texture and sends them to a lab, which examines them under a microscope. Health Canada advises hiring a professional to test before you renovate.

A typical test runs in this order:

1. Map the textures. Any ceiling that differs in colour or texture counts as a separate material, with its own samples.
2. Wet the spot. A small patch is misted, so the dust stays down.
3. Take the sample. A small piece is cut through every layer, down to the drywall, and sealed in a bag.
4. Seal the spot. The cut is patched or sealed, so it doesn't shed.
5. Read the report. The lab gives the type and amount of any asbestos found.

For the work it covers, Ontario's regulation sets a minimum number of samples. A sprayed ceiling texture under 90 square metres, about 970 square feet, needs at least 3. Larger areas need 5 or 7. If one sample reaches 0.5% asbestos by dry weight, the whole area of that material counts as asbestos-containing.

Asbestos-containing material:

in Ontario, any material with 0.5% or more asbestos by dry weight, often shortened to ACM.

A clear result covers only the texture that was sampled. Leave time for the lab before you book any removal.

What does Ontario's asbestos regulation require for removal?

For a contractor, removing more than 1 square metre of crumbly (friable) asbestos texture is Type 3 work under O. Reg. 278/05. That means a sealed enclosure, trained workers, notice to Ontario's labour ministry and a final clearance air test. The regulation doesn't apply to an owner living in their own home, but it still covers any contractor they hire. Health Canada advises against removing asbestos yourself.

That exemption also covers a building of up to four units where the owner or their family lives in one. A landlord renting a house to unrelated tenants isn't exempt.

Type 3 is the strictest of the regulation's three classes. Its 1 square metre line applies to friable material. Hard or painted texture may not count as friable, and then the class depends on the tools and methods used.

Friable:

describes material that, when dry, can be crumbled, pulverized or powdered by hand pressure.

One square metre is about 10.8 square feet. A 10 by 12 foot bedroom ceiling is about 11 square metres, so one room is well past the line. The area is the total worked in the room, even if the job is split into smaller pieces.

Indoor Type 3 work means, among other things:

• The room is enclosed, and everything in it is removed or covered in polyethylene.
• A decontamination unit of change, shower and clean rooms sits at the entrance.
• The ventilation is shut off and the ducts are sealed.
• A HEPA-filtered exhaust keeps the enclosure under negative air pressure.
• The texture is kept wet, and workers wear respirators.
• Every worker and supervisor has asbestos abatement training.
• The contractor notifies Ontario's labour ministry, orally and in writing, before starting.
• The enclosure stays up until a clearance air test finds no sample above 0.01 fibres per cubic centimetre.

What are your options if the ceiling contains asbestos?

You can leave it, cover it, seal it or have it removed. Leaving an intact ceiling alone is often the simplest choice. For a smooth ceiling, covering or removal gets you there.

Option	What it involves	For a contractor, if the texture is friable
Leave it	Keep it intact, with no drilling, scraping or sanding	No work, so no class
Cover it	New drywall screwed on over the texture, then taped and painted	Type 2: enclosing friable asbestos material
Seal it	A sealant sprayed on to lock the texture in place	Type 3: spray application of a sealant
Remove it	The texture wetted and scraped off inside a sealed enclosure	Type 3 above 1 square metre

Covering is a middle path. You get a smooth ceiling, but the asbestos stays above the new drywall. Keep the lab report with your house records, so future trades know what's up there.

Sealing has limits. A liquid sealant can't go on friable asbestos material that has visibly deteriorated. Nor can it go on texture too weakly bonded to hold its own weight plus the sealant's. Rolling ordinary paint onto popcorn can also drag loose texture down.

A small job on friable texture, such as one pot light, may disturb 1 square metre or less. That's Type 2 work, still done wet, with respirators, protective clothing and plastic drop sheets.

How is an asbestos-free popcorn ceiling removed?

If the test comes back clear, removal is ordinary renovation work. The texture is misted with water, left to soften and scraped off with a wide blade. Much of the time goes into making the bare ceiling smooth enough for paint.

1. Clear and cover. Furniture comes out, floors and walls are covered in plastic, and vents are taped shut.
2. Cut the power. Ceiling fixtures are switched off at the panel, because the texture gets wet.
3. Mist and scrape. One section at a time is misted, left to soak and scraped onto the plastic.
4. Bag the debris. The texture is bagged, and the plastic is rolled up inward.
5. Repair and smooth. Gouges are filled, and the ceiling is skim-coated and sanded.
6. Prime and paint. A primer seals the new compound, then two coats of flat ceiling paint go on.

Painted popcorn is slower. Paint keeps water from soaking in, so the texture comes off in stubborn patches. The drywall underneath was often left rough, because the texture hid it. Ready-mixed compound can need overnight to dry between coats, so one room often takes several days.

In a condo, check with management first. The building's rules govern noisy, dusty work, as covered in What Do Toronto Condo Boards Require Before You Paint?

How much does popcorn ceiling removal cost?

It depends on the test result, the ceiling area, any paint on the texture and the smoothing needed after. So our price list gives no figure, only this note:

asbestos test first; quoted per room. An asbestos-positive ceiling is a different job, because of the procedures the regulation requires.

Painting the new smooth ceiling is quoted with the job. Any job under one crew-day is billed at the $750 + HST minimum. That's why it often pays to do several rooms at once, as Why Do Painters Have a Minimum Job Charge? explains.

Whoever you hire, the quote should say who tests the ceiling. It should also say whether skim coating, primer and paint are included. What Should a Painting Quote Include? lists the other lines to look for.

Every popcorn ceiling removal we quote starts with an asbestos test, before any work begins. Start with Get My Estimate or text us photos of the ceiling. A crew lead looks it over, from your photos or in person. Your written, itemized quote arrives

within 24 hours of seeing the job and names the paint by brand and line. The work carries a written 5-year workmanship warranty.