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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuff works dot com

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Speaker 1: where smart Happens. I am Marshall Brain with today's question,

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Speaker 1: what is this bumpy stuff on my ceiling that looks

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Speaker 1: like popcorn or cottage cheese. The ceilings of many homes

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Speaker 1: and apartments are not painted, but instead are coated with

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Speaker 1: a substance that has this bumpy texture. The treatment is

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Speaker 1: normally called a textured finish or an acoustic finish by builders,

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Speaker 1: but most people refer to it as popcorn. This sort

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Speaker 1: of ceiling treatment is popular for several reasons. First, it

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Speaker 1: keeps you from having to plaster and sand the ceiling.

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Speaker 1: If you've ever done it, you know that plastering the

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Speaker 1: ceiling is no fun. Second, it hides a lot of

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Speaker 1: imperfections in the ceiling. The ceiling is a huge, flat,

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Speaker 1: uninterrupted and well lit expanse. Any imperfection is immediately obvious.

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Speaker 1: The texturing hides imperfections very effectively. Third, it helps to

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Speaker 1: eliminate echo in a room. If you've ever walked into

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Speaker 1: a room before and after carpeting, you know what a

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Speaker 1: big difference carpet makes on echoes and acoustic finishes. Like

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Speaker 1: carpeting the ceiling, there are many different ways to put

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Speaker 1: a texture on a ceiling, but the most common technique

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Speaker 1: involves mixing some sort of lumpy aggregate, either vermiculite or

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Speaker 1: polystyrene in with ceiling paint. The mixture is then sprayed

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Speaker 1: onto the ceiling using a special spray gun. It goes

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Speaker 1: on in one coat, and once it dries, you're done.

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Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, Because

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Speaker 1: a House Stuff Works dot com