A popcorn ceiling, also known as an acoustic ceiling, is a term for a spray-on or paint-on ceiling treatment used from the late 1950s into the 1980s in residential construction. Cheaper than painting, it could be quickly and easily sprayed on in new construction and was also useful in masking ceiling defects in older homes, such as stains, uneven ceilings or poor workmanship. It was the standard for bedroom and residential hallways ceilings for its noise reduction qualities, while kitchen and living rooms ceilings would normally be textured in smoother skip-trowel or orange peel texture for their higher durability and ease of cleaning. Unfortunately, its bright white "cottage cheese" texture often contained asbestos.
Some popcorn ceiling textures were created using a paper based or Styrofoam product to create the texture, rather than asbestos. Nevertheless, when asbestos was banned in ceiling treatments in 1977,[1] popcorn ceilings fell out of favor. Fashions changed to more natural and handmade finishes. Popcorn ceilings become unattractive when they get dirty, are easily damaged, and are hard to clean, repaint, or repair. They can be easily, if messily, removed by spraying them with water to soften them up, and scraping the material off with a large scraping trowel or putty knife.[2] If they may have been applied before the ban on asbestos, their removal should only be done by a licensed professional or after testing to rule out asbestos contamination.