You want to be careful how many coats you put on an acoustic,(popcorn) ceiling. Most dont recommend going beyond one painting. Your best bet would be to spray on a light coat nothing too heavy. Unless you have staining, priming shouldn't be necessary in this case contrary to paint applications that almost always should be primed on a re-paint. You just dont want the extra coat,( primer) on an acoustic lid.

This is a big wake up call concerning asbestos.I use a gypsum based product by hamilton that appearently contains no asbestos and have only done minor repair projects on some rentals.Acoustic (popcorn) was big here in the late sixties and through the seventies, now i realize a good part or all of these cielings could contain asbestos.Asbestos removal can only be done by asbestos abatement contractors here,(hazmat), by law.There is a drywall outfit that advertises as one of their specialties,removing popcorn cielings or a.k.a.,cottage cheese cielings.Im going to give them a call and see if they are aware of asbestos in the acoustic, as any one that was on the subject of removal, never mentioned asbestos.It was always advised to dampen it with a garden type sprayer and let it sit for a few to make it easier to remove. The problem is that they would let the cieling dry and come in and sand and prep for usually a knockdown texture,then prime and paint.The sanding and prep appearently would be the dangerous part as stated in the link handymac provided, as the asbestos debris left over after removing the dampened majority would end up flying around the air freely.

I worked for years as an environmental scientist, and one of the things I was responsible for was asbestos regulation, management, and removals. It's good to be alert to potential environmental hazards, but you don't know if there is any asbestos present and, if there is, what your husband did presented a trivial risk. You need to keep this in perspective: in almost any area in this country there is a small background level of asbestos that can be detected in the air, so it's not like you were perfectly protected from asbestos exposure until this recent little incident. I am not making light of your concerns, and the next time you disturb the ceiling you should have it tested first and use asbestos remediation methods if warranted. But, for now, please stop worrying about what happened. Your family will be ok. P.S.: Painting the ceiling was a good thing: if you actually do have asbestos, it's a good way to lock in any stray fibers.

You could have a drywall man come and put 1/4 or 3/8 inch drywall over the top, and tape and mud it for you and have it ready for painting. I am wondering if this may be something that is a bit over your head, since you seem to be not used to doing this type of stuff, so may be better to hire someone. If you do that, then watch that person carefully, and you will learn just how it is all done, so if in the future, you get another house with the popcorn ceiling, you will know just how its done. It can be a great learning experience and you may enjoy it a lot too. That vaulted ceiling you have can be a bit of work too, because of the height.