Pass On The Popcorn

The textured ceilings are not winning any design awards

- Jodi Helmer

On television shows about home remodeling, the experts all offer the same advice: The popcorn ceilings have to go.

Charlotte homeowners agree.

“We get a ton of calls from homeowners who want the popcorn gone right away,” says Rick Smith, owner of Popcorn Squad, a local company that specializes in ceiling restoration.

Popcorn ceilings, also called cottage cheese or textured ceilings, are created from a mixture of drywall mud and Styrofoam beads that is sprayed on the ceilings. The finish is common in homes built in the 1990s, although Popcorn Squad has removed the textured surface from homes built as recently as 2006, because it was quick and inexpensive to install.

“It took a few hours of spraying to finish an entire house (with popcorn ceilings), compared with at least a week of meticulous finish work for smooth ceilings,” Smith says.