Popcorn ceilings were incredibly popular in the 50s and 60s, however, recent studies have shown that they actually collect dust, dirt, and cobwebs and often have asbestos. If you are thinking about removing your popcorn ceiling, there is a lot you need to know, and one important question you should understand is whether or not removing popcorn ceilings will increase your home value.
Removing popcorn ceilings can increase your home value depending on the type of home you have and the asking price: removing popcorn ceilings can increase the value of your home by $25,000. If your house is listed at around $200,000, it’s not necessary to remove popcorn ceilings, but if you are asking for $500,000 or more, it definitely should be removed.
If you want to learn how and why removing popcorn ceilings can increase the value of your home, whether or not you should have it removed, and why people don’t want popcorn ceilings, keep reading! This article has everything you need to know.
Why Are Popcorn Ceilings Considered a Negative Feature?
Popcorn ceilings were all the rage during construction of many American homes from the 50s to the early 80s. It was a great and cheap way to hide flaws and add “design” to a simple room.
However, most people now feel that the look is outdated, and unfortunately, that’s not the worst part. Popcorn ceilings also get dirty quickly, attract dust and cobwebs, create shadows that make a room look smaller, and most of them even have asbestos.
For all of these reasons, popcorn ceilings are now considered quite a negative feature in a home that is for sale. But before you go ahead and remove it, there’s a bit more you need to know.
Is it Safe to Remove Popcorn Ceilings?
It’s important to understand that removing popcorn ceilings isn’t all that easy. Most popcorn ceilings have asbestos, which is a mineral fiber that can be quite detrimental to your physical health.
When popcorn ceilings are left alone, they are not typically dangerous, however, removing them causes the asbestos to fly into the air and inhaling it is not safe.
If you want to remove your popcorn ceiling you need to hire a professional to keep you and your family safe, but it can be fairly expensive.
Does Removing Popcorn Ceilings Increase Home Value?
One of the main reasons why people want to remove their popcorn ceilings is in the hope that it will increase the value of the home.
As you now know, this rumor is correct: removing popcorn ceilings absolutely does increase the value of your home. In fact, the value will increase from anywhere between $25,000 and $35,000 if your home is popcorn ceiling free.
It’s important to note that these statistics apply to homes that are valued at more than $300,000, and realistically homes that are closer to $700,000 or higher.
For less expensive homes such as those that are valued at $200,000 removing the popcorn ceilings may not make a big difference in the asking price.
Should You Remove Your Popcorn Ceilings?
It can cost thousands of dollars to remove popcorn ceilings, and the price gets higher if they test positive for asbestos. So you may be wondering, is it even worth it to remove your popcorn ceilings?
The truth is, if your home is only valued at $200,000, it’s probably not worth it to have your popcorn ceilings removed. It is costly, messy, dangerous, and it may not even increase the value of your home.
Removing them can also lead to visible ceiling damage, which you may have to fix in order to make sure your house sells for the original asking price.
But if your asking price is over $500,000 and is sitting stagnant on the market, removing the popcorn ceilings may be able to help you sell your house faster, and for even more money.
Remember that for a highly valued house, you could increase its asking price by up to $35,000 without popcorn ceilings, which would certainly be worth the $2,500 or so it takes to remove them.
Conclusion
As promised, you are now a popcorn ceiling expert! Whether or not you think removing the popcorn ceilings in your home is necessary or valuable is up to you, and there are a lot of factors to consider.
But hopefully, you now have all the information you need to make a confident decision.
Just to recap: removing popcorn ceilings can increase your home value, especially if your home is priced at $500,000 or more. In that case, you could ask for between $25,000 and $35,000 more for your home without the popcorn ceilings! If your home is less expensive, it may not be worth removing them.
