You may have read or heard from others that removing popcorn or acoustic ceilings is beneficial for many reasons. For one, this practice of spraying this plaster mineral material on the ceiling began in 1945 and has been regular practice up until the 1990s! It was done simply to hide natural ceiling frame and plaster imperfections and even cracking. Also, it formed extra noise barrier thus the name acoustic ceiling. And actually, wall texture was also commonly applied throughout the decades to drywall and plaster and lathe walls to also hide imperfections and add acoustic barrier. We call the various forms of texture things like orange peel and knock down. And prior to the early 1980s much of the material and mineral compound used in this textured mixture included asbestos. And asbestos is linked to terrible lung conditions and cancer when inhaled. Therefore, when removing texture in a home build prior to the early 80s where it was never done before, we now have organizations that monitor proper removal and disposal of this material. Not only was it present in this wall compound, but it was also used in other construction materials like various adhesives.