Is it safe to remove popcorn ceiling for the home build in 1972?

Question

My home was build in 1972 and the ceiling had sprayed with
popcorn texture. I would like to hire some contractor to remove it but I heard many people said that It is very dangerous because the ceiling might contents asbestos and ofcourse it not good for your health. I plan to have a sample for testing asbestos but wondering that all the home build before 1978 content asbestos or only some? how many % would be safe to remove?I have two kids and wife and don't want to mess up their health.Please give me an advice how to do it safe. Thank you for your answers

Answer 1

I think you are correct in having it tested first. Once you know that then you will be able to consider your options. Until you have it tested you need to put everything on pause.

Answer 2

Here's what you do:

Get a sprayer and fill it with water. Use the sprayer on a fine mist to saturate about 6 square feet of the popcorn ceiling at a time. Let it sit for a few minutes. Scrape the "popcorn" off of the ceiling (being careful not to gouge the drywall behind it, unless you want to do *lots* of spackling later) with about a 6-inch-wide scraper knife and dump it immediately into a heavy-duty trash bag.

The saturated "popcorn" will be the consistency of lumpy oatmeal. The fact that it's all glopped together means the asbestos fibers - if there are any - won't become airborne. Contact your local garbage collection company or the city to find out what to do with the removed texture. You may be able to just take it to the dump without paying a processing fee (in San Diego, a homeowner doesn't have to pay an asbestos processing fee, but a contractor does).

If the textured ceiling has been painted, it may take longer for the water to soak through to where you can scrape it. Just be patient. It will soften up eventually.