Popcorn Ceiling Mold in Lake Charles, LA

Textured ceiling mold starts with an asbestos question

Many sprayed popcorn ceilings from past decades contain asbestos, and you cannot tell by looking. Scraping, sanding or cutting a ceiling that does would release fibers into the house, so a small bulk sample goes to a lab first, at $80 to $150. If it comes back clean, the moldy texture can be removed as an ordinary remediation. If it contains asbestos, the ceiling becomes an abatement job for a firm set up for that work, and the mold is dealt with inside that containment.

The question comes up often in Lake Charles, where 49.5% of housing units were built before 1980; in Sulphur the share is 50.9%, and the 1970s were that city's busiest building decade, with 1,967 units (Census ACS 2020-2024).

Call (337) 570-2420

Find the water above the popcorn ceiling first

A ring or a grey bloom on a textured ceiling is the bottom end of a moisture problem that sits in the attic: a roof leak, a sweating duct boot, an air handler pan that overflows, or a bath fan that ends in the insulation. The assessor goes into the attic above the stain, checks the decking, ducts and insulation with a moisture meter, and writes up the source as well as the ceiling. Replacing the ceiling without fixing that source only resets the clock.

Removing or covering a moldy popcorn ceiling

Where the test is clear, the remediation contractor contains the room, wets and removes the texture or the whole ceiling board where the growth has gone through it, cleans the joists above, and dries the area. A sound ceiling with surface staining only may be removed and refinished; a ceiling with water damage through the board is replaced. A drywall overlay over an old ceiling is only an option when the board above is dry, solid and free of growth.

Popcorn ceiling work and Louisiana's mold rule

Louisiana separates the people who judge a mold problem from the people who fix it. La. R.S. 37:2158(A)(23) prohibits a mold remediation contractor from performing both the assessment and the remediation on the same property, or holding an interest in both companies. On a textured ceiling job, the independent assessor reports on the leak and the growth, and a different contractor takes the ceiling down.

Popcorn ceiling mold removal cost in Lake Charles

For a ceiling that tests free of asbestos, removing the moldy texture and refinishing usually runs $1,200 to $3,500 per room, depending on ceiling height and how much comes down. By the square foot, a full ceiling removal with new drywall and paint is roughly $2.50 to $5.00, and an overlay on a sound ceiling roughly $2.00 to $3.50. A ceiling that contains asbestos is $5 to $12 per square foot because of the abatement rules. The cost page lists the rest.

Call (337) 570-2420

Calling about a stained popcorn ceiling

Phone (337) 570-2420 and say which rooms have textured ceilings, roughly when the house was built, where the stain is, and what sits in the attic above it. Please leave the ceiling untouched until it has been sampled. Writing instead? The form lower on the page reaches the same line.