Cost Of Popcorn Ceiling Removal In Toronto and GTA 2025
The Cost of Popcorn Ceiling Removal in Toronto: What You Need to Know
Popcorn ceiling removal in Toronto and GTA has recently become a popular home renovation project for homeowners who want to modernize their home interiors. However, the cost of popcorn ceiling removal depends on several factors, including the scope of the project, ceiling height, and the condition of the existing popcorn ceilings. Let’s explore those factors to understand the price better.
Whole House vs Few Rooms: Bulk Pricing Matters
When deciding removing popcorn ceilings in the entire house or just a few rooms, the cost per square foot often varies. Whole house projects always get a better deal compared to smaller jobs. This is because bigger jobs allow us to optimize our time and resources and offer a “wholesale” pricing structure.
In contrast, removing popcorn ceilings in just one or two rooms will be priced higher per square foot due to job setup, travel to customers’ site, and most importantly the preparation time remains consistent regardless of the project size. This is why you save money when buying bulk quantity in Costco comparing it with buying smaller quantities at a retail store—the more you do at once, the more you save per unit.
Toronto House Popcorn Ceiling Removal Before
Toronto House Popcorn Ceiling Removal After
Ceiling Height: A Critical Cost Factor
In most Toronto’s homes, the ceiling height is between 8 foot and 9 foot, which is easy to reach from the ground with Festool and our Toronto Painters are easy to move around to remove popcorn ceilings as well. However, in some case, some homes have open to above spaces either in the front entrance or the living room. In this case, we need to set up scaffolding, which adds time and complexity to the project. Our painters have to repeatedly climb up and down to move the scaffolding, which slows down the process. As a result, the height of your ceiling plays a significant role in pricing. Standard 8 or 9-foot ceilings are straightforward to work on and require minimal additional equipment. However, high ceilings in entryways or living rooms pose challenges.
1. Scaffolding Setup: Assembling and transporting scaffolding takes additional time
2. Limited Mobility: Maneuvering scaffolding around the room adds complexity to the popcorn ceiling removal process.
Due to these factors, removal costs for home with high ceilings are higher than those for standard-height ceilings.
Popcorn Ceiling Edges: Smooth vs. Adjacent to Walls
There are two different popcorn ceiling in Toronto’s homes. For newer homes built 20 years ago, there is smooth edges surround the popcorn ceiling. For those homes, the popcorn ceiling can be removed completely with Festool sanding machine. For old homes, we have seen the popcorn ceiling is adjacent to walls and it presents challenges
1. Tool Limitations: The round shape of Festool drywall sander cannot reach right up to the wall due to its design.
2. Manual Removal: The leftover texture near the edges must be stripped by hand. Therefore, it increases labor hours and cost.
If your popcorn ceiling is adjacent to walls, you will expect slightly higher costs due to the additional manual work required.
Popcorn Ceiling With Smooth Edge
Popcorn Ceiling Adjacent To Walls
Popcorn Ceiling Removal Toronto: Empty House vs. Furnished House
the challenge of removing popcorn ceiling differs significantly depending on whether the house is empty or furnished. It is unlike painting interior walls. Furniture can be moved to the center of the room, however, popcorn ceiling removal requires full access to the entire ceiling.
1. Limited Mobility: In occupied homes, even though the furniture is moved to the center of the room, it allows us to start from the side along the wall. However, it still creates obstacles to reach the center of the ceiling. In order to remove the popcorn in the center, we have to stop and to move the furniture to the side of the room. Therefore, it makes the process slower and cumbersome.
Removing popcorn ceiling in furnished homes requires more labor hours, therefore, it increases the overall cost of popcorn ceiling removal
Painted vs. Unpainted Popcorn Ceilings
The condition of your popcorn ceiling—painted or unpainted—is another critical cost determinant.
1. Unpainted Popcorn Ceilings: These are easier to remove with your finger nails. Therefore, it allows the sander to remove it efficiently.
2. Painted Popcorn Ceilings: Painted textures are far more challenging to remove. The paint seals the texture, preventing water from penetrating and loosening the popcorn ceiling. Removal often requires additional steps:
○ Scraping by hand.
○ Applying mud and tape over the entire ceiling to achieve a smooth surface.
Removing painted popcorn ceilings is labor-intensive, increasing both time and cost.
Toronto Condo Popcorn Ceiling Removal Before
Toronto Condo Popcorn Ceiling Removal After
Concrete Ceilings in Condos: Unique Challenges
While concrete ceilings are common in many modern condos, it present another challenges when it comes to popcorn ceiling removal in Toronto and GTA.
Key Challenges of Concrete Ceilings
• Surface Hardness: Concrete ceiling is significantly harder than drywall, which makes sanding and leveling more labor-intensive.
• Uneven Textures: Many concrete ceilings have imperfections, including ridges, air pockets, or rough patches, which requires more mudding and taping to smooth out uniformly.
• Adjacent To Walls: most popcorn ceiling in Toronto’s condos is adjacent to walls.
Remove popcorn ceiling in condo often demands more time and effort, making it a complex and costly process similar to the challenges faced with removing painted popcorn ceilings.
How Pricing Breaks Down
Here’s our breakdown of the cost of popcorn ceiling removal:
Whole House unpainted popcorn ceiling removal | $2 - $3 per square foot |
Whole House painted porpcorn ceiling removal | $4 - $6 per square foot |
Single or few rooms unpainted popcorn ceiling removal | $850 - $1500 per room |
Condo popcorn ceiling removal | Price varies |
Our popcorn ceiling removal service includes the complete process: removing the popcorn texture, patching the ceiling, sanding the patched areas, priming, and painting the ceiling, all from start to finish.
For example, for a standard 1,500-square-foot, two-story empty house built within 20 years with smooth edge surround unpainted popcorn ceiling, the cost is $3,500 from start to finish including painting ceilings.
Get Professional Popcorn Ceiling Removal From Us today
At Mi Painting & Wallpaper, we provide dustless popcorn ceiling removal services in Toronto and GTA using Festool Sanding Systems. We provide tailor pricing to meet your specific needs no matter it is a single room or entire house. Contact us for a customized estimate and let us help you achieve smooth and modern ceilings today.
