The focus of this article is moldy, cracking and peeling skylights. However before we get into that let’s make one thing clear. If you have a faulty skylight that is leaking into your house, you should replace it. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s address why I’m writing this article.
Skylights are exposed to more moisture
Cracked and peeling skylight fixed in New Westminster
Skylights are almost never installed at the same height as your ceilings. Skylights are usually installed on your roof and there’s usually a hole, 3 to 5 feet in your ceiling that leads to the skylight. This difference in height provides a perfect opportunity for moisture to rise up and get stuck in your skylight with nowhere to go. The moisture then gets absorbed by the popcorn texture, paint and drywall and starts the process of creating mold and mildew. Moldy skylights start cracking and peeling off. They create an eyesore as well as a health hazard.
Skylights are exposed to massive temperature changes
The hole leading up to your skylight gets extremely hot on a summer day. Far hotter than anywhere else in your home. This again is due to the heat not having anywhere to go, so it keeps accumulating in that one spot. This causes the popcorn texture, paint and the drywall to expand beyond their designed limits.
By the same token the space below your skylight gets cooler than anywhere else in your home during the night and in the winter. This causes the popcorn texture, paint and drywall around the skylight hole to shrink beyond their designed limits.
The heating and cooling cycles are repeated 365 days a year and slowly start breaking down the drywall as well as start peeling off the texture and paint that are sprayed inside the skylight.
Popcorn & other ceiling textures were never meant for inside a skylight
Cracked and peeling skylight fixed in Vancouver
Custom homes that were built over the past 40 years in the Metro Vancouver area, usually do not have texture sprayed inside their skylights. If your skylights are sprayed with popcorn texture or any other ceiling texture, it indicates that the builder was trying to cut corners.
Manufacturers of ceiling texture materials specifically instruct not to spray their product on the inside of skylights. The reason against spraying any type of texture inside a skylight is simple. Ceiling texture, including popcorn texture, provides much more surface area for mold and mildew to grow on. Therefore it’s a terrible idea to spray ceiling texture on the inside of a skylight.
So to conclude, a skylight that is displaying signs of mold and mildew, or starting to crack and peel, is at best an eyesore that needs to be dealt with and at worst a serious hazard to you and your family’s health. It’s necessary to consult a professional and remedy the situation.
Do your skylights need attention? Click here to take action!
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Cracked and peeling skylight fixed in New Westminster
Asthma & popcorn ceilings: Your ceilings are harbouring the invisible enemy that aggravates Asthma
source: fitsugar.com
Like many textured surfaces such as carpets and rugs, your popcorn textured ceilings can hold on to a variety of allergens, dust mites, insect bile, and spider webs. This is over and above the risk of your textured ceiling’s risk of containing deadly asbestos. Even if you make a regular habit of trying to keep your popcorn ceilings clean (few of us do), you can still count on dust, dirt, and other airborne pollutants to be embedded in between the rough surfaces that make up the popcorn ceiling.
To make things worse, many popcorn ceilings weren’t installed properly which means you may notice areas of your popcorn ceilings that are cracking and peeling off. The peeling of ceiling texture is a visible symptom of loose particles that are slowly but constantly falling from the textured ceiling and being inhaled by you, your kids and the rest of your family. Another visible symptom of popcorn ceiling particles coming loose and floating in the air of your home, is that no matter how often you dust your furniture and appliances, after a day or two, you will still get a thin film of dust on the surfaces you cleaned.
The thin film of dust that you see on your furniture, counter tops, TV set, appliances and other surfaces in your house, is made up of dust, allergens, dust mites and other respiratory system irritants that for the most part fall off from the textured ceilings in your home. This is why asthma & popcorn ceilings are never a good mix.
Over the last 40 years, the prevalence of asthma has increased from 0.53% of the population, to 4.8% of the population[1]. That’s an astounding 10 fold increase in a short period of 40 years. It is not a coincidence that textured ceilings were introduced in the mid 1960’s.
In the meantime, we are only masking the symptoms of asthma by using inhalers and other steroid based chemicals, while ignoring the real causes of asthma. According to the Asthma Society of Canada, 10% of the population in this country are needlessly suffering from Asthma [2].
Associated costs with the Asthma epidemic
In the Province of British Columbia alone, the annual cost of dealing with Asthma was $56 million (2006 figures [3]). If we extrapolate that number, Canada-wide, the cost of dealing with Asthma would have been over half a Billion dollars. As Canadian taxpayers, we have to understand that ultimately we are paying those costs out of our pockets.
According to the US National Institute of Health, the total cost burden of Asthma in the year 2007 in the United States was $56 Billion. You read that correct, that’s $56 million times 1000.
As the burden of Asthma increases, there are certain steps that we can take as citizens, including choosing responsible modes of transportation, reducing the use of airborne chemicals in our households, and yes, removing popcorn textured ceilings from our homes. If you are a homeowner whose family suffers from Asthma and other allergies, do yourself and your family a favour in the new year and get in touch with us here at RemoveCeilingTexture.com. You would be surprised how minimal the cost is to have smooth ceilings in your home and get rid of that unsightly and disease-ridden popcorn textured ceiling.
Is your family suffering from asthma or allergies? Click here to take action!
We asked them what they think about their popcorn ceilings
Ceiling texture that has cracked over the years
As a company that has built its business around removing popcorn ceilings in Metro Vancouver, you would imagine that we have a certain bias against textured ceiling. But one thing is for certain. If our potential customers didn’t have a problem with textured ceilings in their home, our business would have never been plausible.
In addition to the potential hazards that we have explained your popcorn ceiling can pose, we set out to do a social experiment and ask our clients, what is it about popcorn ceilings that they dislike, and what motivates them to get in touch with RemoveCeilingTexture.com. As you may imagine, there were a variety of responses, some of which contained colourful language that doesn’t belong on this blog. But below is a slice of some of the responses that we got;
And here’s what they told us
Greta from Richmond, BC: One problem is you can’t dust them without the “popcorn” coming off. Super annoying, particularly around any ceiling fans.
Raymond from New Westminster BC: Asbestos was used in the ceiling texture during the 50s and 60s. It’s use actually extended well into the late 70s and it’s frequently found in houses of that era. The expense of scraping the popcorn is significantly increased if it is present, assuming the contractors go the full 9 yards. Somewhere between double and triple the cost.
Leung from Burnaby, BC: I had popcorn ceilings in one of my investment properties at Metrotown. The popcorn ceilings were painted several times. Popcorn isn’t fun to paint over! Even with the thicker rollers you have to go over it at least 4-5 times to make sure you get enough paint on. Then you have the issue of the popcorn falling off while you are painting it. I hate it and I’m glad it’s gone.
Richard (Custom Home Buider) from West Vancouver, BC: Popcorn ceilings were only designed to hide poor ceiling finishes. You typically don’t see popcorn ceilings in custom built homes but more in condominiums or spec homes.
Susan from Port Moody, BC: I’m with the “no popcorn” people. It’s what everyone has said and worse, if you ask me. They hold nasty cobwebs and rain popcorn pellets on you when you try to dust them. Painting them is awful and time consuming, but like any ceiling, they yellow in time and must be repainted every so often. And yes, they are really just a cheap way to hide blemishes. And I’m going to be even more curmudgeonly and say that I don’t buy the “acoustic” argument. We had the ceiling texture in our vaulted living room ceiling removed, and we have solid-surface floors. We really do not have a problem at all with echoing & noise. Project creep is just an excuse. Get them removed when you have those floors installed. The result will be gorgeous.
Wayne from Langley, BC: I am a general contractor and have been for 30 plus years. I’ve applied popcorn texture to many ceilings and have owned homes with it also. I also suffer with allergies, and the dust from the popcorn does a real number on me.The thing with the popcorn ceiling is that it deteriorates over time and decomposes into dust particles that fall all over you, your bed, furniture, floors, pictures frames, moldings, etc. The only way to fix this is to remove the texture and have a smooth ceiling so you can breathe clean air for a bit. The flat textured ceilings also dry and deteriorate over time, but as you can tell if you pass a broom across it, a lot less of the texture will fall off on each stroke than the coarse popcorn ceilings.
Collin from Coquitlam, BC: 1975 popcorn ceiling got water damage and started falling down at one house I lived in . The popcorn tested positive for asbestos of course. Assume any popcorn ceiling has asbestos until proven otherwise just like you assume all 1970s or earlier paint contains lead.
Joan from North Vancouver, BC: I would be worried about getting mesothelioma from a deteriorating popcorn ceiling. It would be insane to remove a popcorn ceiling without a professional. You cannot be sure what is in the popcorn ceiling. People seem very unaware of the potential hazards. If you get cancer from removing the ceiling or living with a crumbling one, it would be years later. I think the public is sadly unaware.
Christine from Vancouver, BC: Not only do I hate popcorn, but I hate all textures, both ceilings and walls. They look tacky and gross. When I see textured walls or ceilings, I imagine a scenario in which two hillbillies banter back and forth about how to class up their trailer home. The one says to the other, “You know what would really class up our home, hon? Textured ceilin’s ‘n some fancy wooden trim! Yeehaw!” My husband and I just spent the whole day de-tackifying a room full of textured walls and ceilings, and ripping off trim. The simpler, the better in my opinion- and classier looking too.
Nolan from White Rock, BC: Seems like people either hate these ceilings or are indifferent to them. Does anybody actually like popcorn ceilings though? Not that I’ve heard of. By the way, if you are concerned about noise traveling from room to room, a good solid-core door does much more to fight noise than acoustic ceilings ever could.
Jason from Port Coquitlam, BC: While I admit the acoustic dampening is good if you have hard floors and nothing in the house, for carpeted houses and houses with actual furniture, wall art, shelves, etc… popcorn ceilings can be more annoying than useful. I have already accidentally scraped the popcorn from some our low ceilings numerous times in the two and half years since we moved in and been quite annoyed by the dust falling in my eyes, clothes, food, etc. I sleep in a loft bed, so I am particularly close to the ceiling which makes it even more annoying. And the fact that you can never match the existing texture perfectly when you repair it, makes things worse. Even worse, we have a moth infestation, and find several bloody waxworms crawling around the walls and roof per day. We vacuum them up frequently to prevent them laying more eggs, but spotting them is made much harder due to the stupid popcorn. This is particularly annoying because they do not stay on the roof, they actually spin silk to come down or even just fall right off, so we are trying to get into the habit of covering all of our food so that we don’t end up with a mouthful of maggots (not to mention that every twitch of the hair makes us think that a worm just fell on our heads). If the ceiling was flat, the task would be so much easier, cleaner and faster.
Helen from Surrey, BC: Moth maggots have been falling from my ugly popcorn ceiling for weeks now. I will hear a light pop and look over to see one trying to snuggle up with me on our leather sofa, it’s absolutely gross! So I took a tissue and a chair and walked around to try and nap the suckers from their popcorn dream home. I discovered SO many stuck up there inside a small web-like cocoon. I am removing the popcorn ceilings pronto! I can’t have worms raining from my ceiling any longer!
Here’s what you can do
Damaged popcorn ceiling peeling off
If you are in agreement with the statements our fellow citizens have made about their popcorn ceilings, but don’t have the time or patience to deal with the problem, you’re still in luck. Contact the professionals at RemoveCeilingTexture.com TODAY!
We will come in, measure your place, give you a firm price and stick to it. We’ll deal with the pain of removing those ugly popcorn ceilings so you don’t have to. We’re in and out with a quick turnaround time and we won’t leave a large dent in your wallet.Simply fill out the form below and we will get in touch with you in within 24 hours.
Do your textured ceilings make you cringe? Click here to do something about them!
The owner of this condo in Burnaby, like many others, was suffering from cracks that appeared in the centre and along the edges of the concrete ceiling. Frustrated after many years of looking at the ugly cracked ceiling, she decided to do something about it. She was told by other contractors that “nothing could be done” about the crack problem other than filling the crack with silicone caulking which was even uglier than the crack itself. Frustrated, the owner contacted us at RemoveCeilingTexture.com.
Cracked ceiling in condo repaired near Metrotown; Burnaby, BC
This condo came with a typical concrete ceiling that was sprayed with coarse popcorn texture by the original builder. We removed the coarse texture, ground the ceiling all the way down to the source of the crack, patched the crack so that it wouldn’t come back in the future and finished the ceiling to a very smooth, flat and beautiful finish. The way it should have been done in the first place. We also painted the ceiling and the walls for this nice lady. Now, she has a fresh, smooth ceiling in her home and she can breathe easier without all the dust and allergens getting trapped in the popcorn texture.
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Popcorn ceiling texture removed from concrete ceilingsCracked ceiling around the edges
Cracked ceiling around pot light repaired
Contact us for Cracked Ceiling Repair
If the concrete ceiling in your condo is cracked and cracks are showing through the popcorn ceiling texture, don’t wait any longer for the problem to get worse. Use the quick form below to contact us here at RemoveCeilingTexture.com and let us help you get your ceilings back to being crack-free, smooth and free of texture.
Do you have cracks in your ceilings? Click here to take action!
The leaky roof in this Burnaby-North home was casing major headaches for the owners. Their leaky roof problem in previous years, had eventually traveled down into their ceiling and started turning their ceiling texture into something that looked like it belonged in a horror movie.
Remember, the risks associated with a leak in your roof are not limited to an ugly stain on the ceiling, or some irregular looking ceiling texture. Leaky roofs are one of the major contributors to the development of mold and mildew inside wall and ceiling cavities that can lead to respiratory illnesses and other health complications in your family.
A Leaky roof and subsequent damaged ceilings can cost a fortune
The family had contacted other outfits that claimed they could fix the ceiling, but all these other outfits ended up suggesting removal of the entire ceiling or drywalling on top of the existing ceiling. Both those options were impractical and very expensive with some quote coming in at $4000.
Now if you have just paid thousands of dollars to replace your leaky roof, the last thing you want to be doing is to spend another few thousand to get the damaged ceilings back to normal. And as suggested in this GlobalBC story, a leaky roof can cost a homeowner/landlord a lot of money.
RemoveCeilingTexture.com to the rescue
That’s where we came in and helped the homeowner fix his damaged ceiling for a fraction of the original quote. Not only do the ceilings look great after our process, they are also fixed properly with minimal disruption to the people living in the house. The leaky roof was a distant memory and the ceilings were smooth, popcorn-free and beautiful. We then finished the ceilings with 2 coats of premium ceiling paint and returned the house to a very happy family.
The results speak for themselves. If you have a ceiling in your home where the texture is cracking, delaminating or otherwise coming off as a result of a leaky roof or any other mishap, please contact us today and let us help you get your ceiling back to a beautiful new look.
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Horrific scene; This ceiling texture is delaminated due to leaks
Are your ceilings damaged as a result of a leak? Click here to take action!
This cozy, 1980’s hi-rise apartment at Metrotown, was in need of some well-deserved renovation, and that’s exactly what the owners decided to do. Once the furniture was removed and carpet was pulled up, we moved in to remove that ugly ceiling texture, which had been collecting dust for over 20 years. Not to mention that after 20 years, the owners were sick and tired of looking at it. The owners of this cozy condo were simply looking for one thing; smooth ceilings throughout the apartment.
We removed the popcorn ceiling, skim coated the underlying (rough) concrete ceiling, sanded the ceiling to a smooth finish and painted the ceiling with a ceiling-specific, flat, white primer and paint. As you can see, the results speak for themselves. There is a specific problem that concrete ceilings pose when removing the textured ceilings. This problem is no apparent prior to painting the concrete ceilings and if you have an inexperienced person trying to make smooth ceilings out of textured concrete ceilings, you usually run into a finished ceiling that is uneven and imperfect.
With over 20 years of experience in the specific science of removing textured ceilings and making beautiful smooth ceilings throughout Metro Vancouver, RemoveCeilingTexture.com is your first choice for smooth ceilings.
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Are you looking to have smooth texture free ceilings? Click here to get in touch with us!
If you own a house or apartment in the Greater Vancouver area and are thinking of doing some renovations, it is the perfect time to contact us at RemoveCeilingTexture.com for a quote. We will set up a site meeting, measure your ceiling, go over the details of the process with you and finally submit a written, firm quote. The initial consultation and the quote are free. We will help you get the smooth ceilings you are looking for and in the meantime we will show you how to add thousands of dollars to the value of your home.
Additionally, find out about other renovation services offered by our sister company (Rocman Enterprises Inc) by clicking here.
This cozy apartment unit in Coquitlam had been listed for sale and was on the market for nearly 3 months. Every time potential clients came through, they would complain about several cracks in the ceiling which was covered by very course popcorn texture. Ugly ceilings were preventing the sale of this apartment.
Cracked popcorn ceiling prevents sale of unit
All offers made on this unit were $5000 lower than the listing price, citing the ugly ceiling. Prior to contacting us at RemoveCeilingTexture.com, the owner had sought help from other “handyman” sources. He had been told that there was no way to fix these several cracks in the ceilings permanently, unless the ceiling was completely ripped out and new drywall installed on the ceiling. This was not an option for the owner as it was a very expensive method and it would mean severe disruption to his lifestyle. It would also mean that he would have to take his apartment off the market for a lengthy period of time until the ceilings were fixed.
So he finally did the right thing and got in touch with us at RemoveCeilingTexture.com.
As you can see in the pictures below, RemoveCeilingTexture.com came to the rescue of this seller. We were able to fix all the cracks in the ceiling and remove the ugly ceiling texture so this homeowner could sell his apartment at full asking price. Better yet, we fixed and beautified the ceilings for a fraction of the dollars that potential buyers were holding back from him. The cracks on the ceilings were fixed, the ceiling popcorn was removed and the ceiling was painted and ready all withing 3 days.
If you are thinking about selling your Vancouver home, don’t let an ugly ceiling lower your property value. Let us help you maximize your sale price by making your ceilings smooth, beautiful and free of cracks and free of popcorn texture. Book your free consultation TODAY by getting in touch with us.
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Cracked popcorn ceiling prevents sale of unit
Is your ugly ceiling hurting your home's market value? Click here to get in touch with us!
Texture Scraper’s Remorse in North Vancouver; This high rise apartment in North Vancouver was purchased by a couple as a smart real estate investment. They wanted to be able to rent it for top dollar. However, it’s hard to get top dollar with dingy ceiling texture. They thought, “We’ll just scrape off the texture. How hard could it be?” Well, without proper tools and experience, our texture scrapers soon realized that they were in over their heads. Literally! Before they were even halfway through the first room, they decided they needed professional help. That’s when they contacted us at RemoveCeilingTexture.com .
But what about the line between the texture and their enthusiastic, but failed attempt at scraping it? Would it always be visible? Could they ever get the smooth, white ceiling they had hoped for?
As you can see in the before & after photos below, we were able to make this failed scraping attempt, into a beautiful, smooth and texture-free ceiling that will help this North Vancouver couple get the most out of their real estate investment. When renting your property, it is important to remember that visual appeal is an important factor in maximizing your rental income.
If you have textured ceilings in your apartment, townhouse or detached house and you want a completely smooth and texture-free look, do not make the mistake that the texture scraper in our story did. Contact us at RemoveCeilingTexture.com today by clicking HERE and let us make the process of going from ugly textured ceilings, to smooth, clean and flawless ceiling, easy and headache free. Our first consultation is absolutely free of charge and we can provide a firm quote on every single job. The dollar number that we provide with our quote, is the dollar number that you will be paying at the end of the project, and not a penny more.
This early 1980’s character home was recently purchased by a professional couple. It was in mainly fine shape except for one thing. Ceiling texture, ugly, unsightly ceiling texture. So we went in at the owner’s request and did what we do best. Transformed the existing textured ceilings into beautiful, smooth, healthy ceilings.
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Vaulted ceiling texture removed in this Delta, BC home
The residents can breathe easier while sleeping in this master bedroom
Popcorn removed in this walk-in closet
Ceiling texture is a terrible idea in the kitchen. You can’t clean a textured ceiling
Ceiling texture in a bathroom is also a bad idea. With all the moisture, it’s a perfect candidate for mold!
This cozy apartment in the Riley Park neighborhood of Vancouver was an interesting project for us to work of particularly because it came equipped with a beautiful vaulted ceiling that was 17 feet high at its peak. Combine that with several skylights throughout the apartment and soon you realize that you have to have a professional working on your ceiling to produce a professional result.
Popcorn ceiling texture removed in hallwayPopcorn ceiling texture removed in kitchenPopcorn ceiling texture removed from vaulted ceilingAnd finally, the owners of this apartment can breathe easier with their new smooth, clean bedroom ceiling
We removed the popcorn ceiling, skim coated the underlying (rough) concrete ceiling, sanded the ceiling to a smooth finish and painted the ceiling with a ceiling-specific, flat, white primer and paint. As you can see, the results speak for themselves. There is a specific problem that concrete ceilings pose when removing the textured ceilings. This problem is no apparent prior to painting the concrete ceilings and if you have an inexperienced person trying to make smooth ceilings out of textured concrete ceilings, you usually run into a finished ceiling that is uneven and imperfect.
