Q. The house we're buying was built in 1974. Our home inspector did a thorough job, but he missed one thing. He never mentioned possible asbestos in the textured ceilings.

The lab reported that the acoustic texture contains 5 percent asbestos. So now we must decide whether to pay an asbestos contractor $3,000 to remove the stuff or simply spray some paint over it.

The majority of textured ceilings installed through the 1970s contain varying amounts of asbestos, usually 1 to 10 percent. After 1978, it became illegal to manufacture the material, but ...

Texture products with asbestos were used through the 1980s. If the ceiling contains asbestos, a certified abatement specialist will need to remove any loose texture material.

During the 1980s and early 90s, removal of acoustic ceiling texture was commonly done for environmental safety reasons, because breathing asbestos fibers was known to cause various lung diseases.

Not all textured ceilings have asbestos, "but a lot do," said Deb Grimm with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality's Asbestos Control Program.

Many owners choose to remove textured ceilings to update the appearance of their homes. First, the texture material should be sampled to determine if asbestos is present.

Removing textured ceilings Caution: Have the ceiling tested first. If it has asbestos, it’s not a do-it-yourself project.

The process is fairly simple, but things can get a little messy. One caution: If the textured ceiling was put up between 1960 and the early 1980s, the texturing material may contain asbestos.