# Forum Home Renovation Asbestos  Popcorn ceiling?

## finger

I recently removed a downstairs ceiling. No protection. Just ripped it down. 
Then while doing some asbestos research in regards to my bathroom walls I come across popcorn ceilings. Oh no what have I done. Its too late now but do you think I am screwed in 10 - 20yrs time? 
There was a heap of dust. 
Pic attached

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## marlowe

Hey Finger. 
I don't think what you have there is a popcorn ceiling. From what I understand (and have in my flat) the popcorn is a thicker, chunkier texture that looks like concrete that has been sprayed on. Which is probably was. I think it is also more commonly found sprayed onto concrete rather than board as it was in your pic (I may be wrong about that). 
In the photo, it looks to me more like a textured render or paint. The way it's flaking off doesn't happen on my ceiling. 
So perhaps don't worry so much about mesothelioma just yet, but I'd be using a respiratory mask with all that dust anyway. I always use a mask whenever I'm doing anything potentially dusty, be it plaster, sawdust, ripping up floors, whatever. I should probably even use one when cleaning my house, I do it so rarely!  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):  
Disclaimer: I'm a newbie weekend warrior myself, and stand by for more sage advice from the wizards of this forum. 
Hmm, sorry pic below is a bit small, but just do a google image search for 'vermiculite ceiling' and look at what pops up, you'll see what I mean.

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## pawnhead

That's just plasterboard. I'm not sure what's in the texture coat, but I doubt that it would be asbestos. Even if it was, there'd be very little free floating dust from it. The dust would have come from the plasterboard, and it's relatively harmless, although any type of dust is not really healthy to breathe. 
I reckon you'd have to be very unlucky, or highly susceptible to suffer any ill effects from a single short exposure to asbestos dust anyway. They say that a single fibre could kill you, but 25 years ago there's a good chance that you'd have found me inside an unventilated bathroom, with no mask, and covered in asbestos dust from cutting floor sheets. Back then we didn't know any better, and my number could be up any day, but I'm not losing any sleep over it. 
Now if you worked in an asbestos factory, or on a ship, or in a building that had sprayed asbestos insulation that can easily flake off and become airborne, then you may have more cause for concern.

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## finger

Cheers guys.  :2thumbsup:  Sometimes I wonder why I bother reasearching stuff on the net. Ignorance is bliss.

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## pawnhead

> Sometimes I wonder why I bother reasearching stuff on the net.

  Of course you're just kidding  :Wink: . 
Google is the best thing since sliced bread I reckon. 
Just about anything you'd want to know is just a mouse click away. So long as you apply a healthy dose of scepticism towards uneducated opinions, and anonymous posters who may be trolls (On the internet, nobody knows that you're a dog), then you'll probably get your answer in the end, just as you did  (although you may not take my word on it since I'm anonymous), and you'll be all the wiser for it.  

> Ignorance is bliss.

  Knowledge is power.  :2thumbsup:

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## UteMad

you have pulled down ordinary gyproc plasterboard... not the vermiculight shat your googling.. if your stuffed from gyproc we all are  
cheers utemad

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