Plaster, overboard or batten and board over artex bathroom ceiling?

[AustinSpacious]

Hi,

Looking to refurb our bathroom, starting with the ceiling.

Current ceiling is artex covered, with a single light in the middle and a passive vent that is piped and exits through the roof (handy).

In an ideal world, I'd like 3-4 recessed downlighters and an extractor fan placed centrally. However, I don't massively want to poke big holes in the artex covered ceiling, so I might be content to keep the central light (replace with some nice spots) and the offset vent hole and swap like for like.

Was thinking initially to batten and overboard, which would give me a gap to fit recessed downlighters without needing to disturb the existing ceiling too much. I guess I'd still have to make a hole for the extractor. Then skim the new boards. However, I guess I'd lose some ceiling height. Are there any other issues with this method?

Alternatively, if I were to stick with the current light and vent, either board straight onto the artex and skim, or just plaster straight over the artex. The artex has some high spots around 5mm.

Would be interested to know what other people have done in this situation?

 

[Mr Chibs]

Board directly over ceiling if you don’t want to lose height. Screw straight into ceiling joists with longer screws.

How textured is the artex?

High spots can be scraped off.

 

[Deleted member 292770]

.

 

[AustinSpacious]

Ok, thanks - seems like boarding over will be the easiest. I'm just not sure best way to make the holes safely in the artex for the downlights? I've seen people mention shaving foam or soaking the surface and peeling it off?

 

[^woody^]

I'm just not sure best way to make the holes safely in the artex for the downlights?

You'll breath in more asbestos fibres on the way to the shops to buy the fittings

 

[cdbe]

I do all my bathroom ceilings in uPVC now.

 

[^woody^]

The 70's are back!

 

[Deleted member 292770]