How To Tell If Your Popcorn Ceiling Has Asbestos
The most accurate and reliable way to tell if your ceiling contains asbestos is get a professional to take a sample of your ceiling and send it to a third party laboratory for analysis.
How to tell if your popcorn ceiling has asbestos. If you buy a test kit you will have to collect a sample of the ceiling and mail it to a lab. There is no way to tell if you have asbestos in your ceiling unless you have a sample analyzed. To find out if your old popcorn ceiling contains asbestos you can purchase a test kit or hire an asbestos abatement professional.
An asbestos ceiling is also called an acoustic ceiling or popcorn ceiling due to its soundproofing qualities and it looks a little like popcorn once it s sprayed on. Homeowners intent on hiding ceiling imperfections with subtle popcorn texture are in luck. Asbestos can cause many health problems including lung cancer so it s very important to test your ceilings if they were built prior to the.
One way is to purchase a kit that allows you to test your ceiling or you can pay a professional asbestos removal company to visit your home. Many inspectors recommend testing your ceiling for lead paint. Many of these ceilings were made partially out of asbestos a silicate material which was banned in many countries starting in the 1970s.
Give your ceiling new popcorn pizzazz. There are many ways to figure out whether your popcorn ceiling has any asbestos. For many years before the united states department of health and human services determined that asbestos is a known carcinogen manufacturers used asbestos to make many different products including the stuff of popcorn ceilings.
When purchasing an asbestos kit you will have to extract a sample of the ceiling and mail it into a lab for examination. Hiring a professional to do it is safer but more expensive. The ceiling treatment was commonly used from the late 1950s into the 1980s in homes across the united states because of its ability to hide imperfections in handiwork and its acoustical characteristics.
Popcorn ceilings were a popular feature of 1960s and 1970s homes. Depending on the age of your ceiling it s quite possible that it contains asbestos.