Do popcorn ceilings in Colorado Springs homes contain asbestos?

Possibly, if the home was built before 1979. Asbestos was commonly added to spray-applied ceiling texture (including popcorn/acoustic texture) as a fire retardant and binder until the EPA banned its use in spray-applied surfacing materials in 1978. Homes built after 1979 are very unlikely to have asbestos in ceiling texture, though products manufactured before the ban may have been applied for a few years afterward. The only way to confirm presence or absence is laboratory testing of a ceiling sample. Visual inspection cannot identify asbestos.

How much does asbestos testing cost in Colorado Springs?

Laboratory analysis of a ceiling texture sample runs $25–$75 per sample through certified labs. The sample itself can be collected by a homeowner (wet the texture to minimize fiber release, collect a small amount in a sealed plastic bag, send to a certified lab) or by a certified industrial hygienist for $150–$300 including the lab fee. Testing one to three samples per affected area is standard, since multiple samples account for texture that may have been applied at different times in different rooms. The cost of testing is trivial relative to the legal and health exposure of proceeding without it.

Can I remove popcorn ceiling myself if there's no asbestos?

Yes. If laboratory testing confirms no asbestos, popcorn ceiling removal is a DIY-accessible project. The process: cover floors and furniture completely, wet the texture with water using a pump sprayer, scrape with a wide drywall knife, allow to dry, skim coat or sand to smooth the ceiling, prime, and paint. The ceiling surface after scraping almost always requires skim coating or significant sanding, because the texture was hiding imperfections, and removing it reveals them. This is the part that surprises most homeowners and is where professional involvement adds the most value.

What happens if asbestos is found in my popcorn ceiling?

Two options: encapsulate or remove. Encapsulation (painting over the intact texture with a specialized encapsulant paint) seals the asbestos fibers in place and is appropriate when the texture is in good condition and undisturbed. This is significantly less expensive than removal but must be disclosed at sale and limits future ceiling work. In Colorado, once removal disturbs more than 32 square feet of ceiling texture (the trigger level in Colorado Regulation 8 for a single-family home, which nearly any full ceiling exceeds), the work must be done by a CDPHE-certified abatement contractor with proper containment, air monitoring, and certified disposal. Cost is significantly higher than standard popcorn removal, typically $3–$7 per square foot. The choice between encapsulation and removal depends on the home's future use, planned ceiling work, and the homeowner's risk tolerance.

Popcorn Ceiling Removal in Colorado Springs: The Asbestos Question, the Testing Cost, and What It Actually Runs

The popcorn ceiling question comes up on nearly every job I walk in an older Colorado Springs home. The homeowner wants it gone. It looks dated, it collects dust, it chips at the edges, and every real estate listing treats it as a negative. The question is always the same: does it have asbestos?

My answer is always the same: test before you touch it.

Not because the answer is always yes. In many Colorado Springs homes the answer is no, and the project moves ahead from there without a problem. But getting this wrong means disturbing asbestos without the right safety steps, and that’s not a risk I’ll take a shortcut on. That risk is not worth it when a test costs about $50.

The Asbestos Timeline

Builders used asbestos in construction materials through most of the 20th century, and I still see it come up more often than people expect on older Colorado Springs jobs. In sprayed-on ceiling texture (popcorn, acoustic spray, or cottage cheese texture), it was added as a fire retardant and a binder. It helped the texture stick and resist fire.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned asbestos in sprayed-on surfacing materials in 1978, covering products made after that date. This is why 1979 is often used as the cutoff year. Homes built after 1979 used texture made under the ban, so they are very unlikely to contain asbestos.

There is one complication. Older stock made before the ban kept getting sold and applied into the early 1980s. A home built in 1981 could still have texture put up with leftover pre-ban material. This is uncommon but not rare. That is why a test, not the build year alone, is the only reliable way to know.

A lot of Colorado Springs housing was built before 1979, including much of Old Colorado City, the Old North End, the Broadmoor area, Manitou Springs, and other established neighborhoods. In any of these homes, testing the texture before you disturb it is the correct first step. It is not optional.

Why Testing Matters

Asbestos fibers become dangerous when they are disturbed and float into the air where you can breathe them in, which is exactly why I won’t touch an untested ceiling in a pre-1979 home, no matter how much a client wants to skip the wait. Popcorn texture that is intact and left alone poses little risk. But scraping, sanding, or removing that texture releases fibers into the air of a closed room. That is a real exposure risk.

The health effects of breathing asbestos fibers are well documented: mesothelioma (a cancer of the lining around the lungs), asbestosis (scarring of the lungs), and lung cancer. These often show up decades after the exposure. Federal and state rules for handling asbestos, from the EPA and from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), exist because the risk is real and the outcomes are severe.

This is not panic over a material in your ceiling. It is the sensible response to a known hazard, especially when a $50 test can prevent the exposure in the first place.

How to Get a Sample Tested

Option 1: Self-collected sample (lower cost)

The EPA provides guidance on safe sample collection. The key is to minimize fiber release during collection:

Wear an N95 mask and gloves.
Mist the area lightly with water before touching the texture. Wet asbestos-containing material releases significantly fewer fibers than dry.
Using a knife or scraper, collect a small amount of texture, about 1 tablespoon, from an out-of-the-way spot (a corner, behind a fixture, or in a closet).
Place the sample in a sealed zip-lock bag. Label with the location (room and approximate area of the ceiling it came from).
Wipe the collection area with a damp cloth and dispose of the cloth in a sealed bag.
Send to a certified asbestos testing laboratory.

Several certified labs accept mailed residential samples in Colorado. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) maintains a list of certified labs. Most return results in 3–7 business days. Cost: $25–$75 per sample including return mail.

Option 2: Certified industrial hygienist

A certified asbestos inspector (also called an industrial hygienist) collects the samples the right way and sends them to a certified lab. Cost: $150–$300 including lab fees. This option gives you a documented paper trail showing who took the sample and where it went. That matters if you are selling the home and the buyer wants proof of testing.

How many samples: One sample per distinct ceiling area is the standard approach. If the home has ceiling texture that was applied at different times in different rooms (common in older Colorado Springs homes with additions or renovations), sample each area separately. Asbestos content can vary between applications.

The Three Outcomes

Outcome 1: No asbestos detected

The project proceeds as a standard popcorn ceiling removal. Homeowner or contractor proceeds with wet scrape removal, ceiling preparation, and refinishing. Standard safety precautions (dust mask, eye protection, covered floors) apply for general dust management, but no asbestos-specific protocols are required.

Outcome 2: Asbestos confirmed, texture in good condition

Encapsulation is an option. This means painting over the intact texture with a special sealing paint (an encapsulant), which is different from regular ceiling paint. It locks the fibers in place. The texture stays on the ceiling but is sealed, so it is no longer a risk under normal conditions.

Encapsulation requirements: the existing texture must be firmly bonded, not crumbling or peeling. Any loose sections must be addressed under asbestos abatement protocols before encapsulant is applied over the remaining texture.

Cost: $0.50–$1.50 per square foot for the encapsulant application, significantly less than abatement removal.

Disclosure: encapsulated asbestos still has to be disclosed when you sell. And any future work that disturbs the ceiling (mounting lights, cutting in HVAC vents, remodeling) has to be done knowing asbestos is still there under the sealed surface.

Outcome 3: Asbestos confirmed, full removal

In Colorado, once a job disturbs more than 32 square feet of ceiling texture, the removal is regulated. That 32 square foot figure is the trigger level in Colorado Regulation 8 for surfacing material in a single-family home, and almost any full ceiling is well over it. At that point the work must be done by an abatement contractor certified by CDPHE. Abatement (the regulated removal process) includes:

Sealing off the work area with heavy plastic sheeting so fibers cannot spread
Running HEPA-filter machines that pull air out of the room through fine filters, so air flows in, not out, and fibers cannot escape
Wetting down and removing all of the texture
Vacuuming every surface with a HEPA (fine-filter) vacuum
Testing the air during and after the work
Bagging and disposing of all the material as regulated waste at a certified site

After a final air test confirms the fiber count is back down to normal levels, the room is cleared for regular work. At that point the ceiling is in the same shape it would be after any popcorn removal: ready for a skim coat and paint.

Cost: $3–$7 per square foot for certified abatement, compared to $1–$2 per square foot for standard non-asbestos removal.

What’s Under the Popcorn

This is the part that consistently surprises homeowners, and honestly it’s the conversation I have to have on almost every one of these jobs. They assume that removing the texture gets them to a smooth, paint-ready ceiling. It almost never does.

Popcorn texture was typically applied over drywall or plaster in a condition that concealed rather than corrected imperfections. Joints weren’t finished to a high standard. Fastener dimples weren’t filled carefully. Surface irregularities were tolerated because the texture was going to hide everything.

When the texture comes off, all of those concealed imperfections are visible. The typical ceiling condition after popcorn removal:

Joint tape that’s lifted or badly finished
Fastener heads visible in the drywall
Uneven surface from inconsistent texture application and removal
Patchy areas where texture was thicker or thinner
Water staining if any roof or plumbing leak has occurred above the ceiling

Getting from “texture removed” to a smooth, paint-ready ceiling takes skim coating. That means spreading a thin layer of joint compound (drywall mud) across the whole ceiling, then sanding and priming it. This is skilled work. Skim coating a ceiling is harder than doing a wall because you work overhead, hold a thin even coat, and smooth out the edges. A bad skim coat shows up forever in raking light (low-angle light, like morning sun crossing the ceiling, that reveals every bump and dip).

The total scope of a popcorn ceiling project in a typical Colorado Springs bedroom or living room:

Asbestos testing ($25–$75)
Preparation (floor and furniture protection)
Wet scrape removal
Ceiling assessment (identify all imperfections)
Skim coat application
Sanding
Prime
Paint

Cost for a professional doing steps 2–8 in a typical room: $1.50–$3.00 per square foot. A 200 square foot bedroom ceiling: $300–$600. A full first-floor open plan space: $1,500–$3,000.

DIY steps 2–8 after confirmed clear testing: $0.10–$0.25 per square foot in materials. The labor is the investment. Expect a weekend or more for an experienced DIYer’s first ceiling.

The Selling Disclosure Issue

Colorado requires sellers to disclose asbestos they know about in a home. If testing has confirmed asbestos in your ceiling texture, whether encapsulated or not, that is a disclosure item at sale.

Some homeowners ask whether they can avoid this by not testing. I tell them the same thing every time: it’s the wrong approach for two reasons. First, disturbing untested ceiling texture in a pre-1979 home creates exposure risk that testing would have allowed them to manage. Second, if the next buyer does testing or if testing is required during escrow, an undisclosed known material can become a legal issue.

Test the ceiling. Know what you have. Make informed decisions from that information.

For a free estimate on popcorn ceiling removal (standard or post-abatement) in Colorado Springs, call (719) 243-9718.