Please help identify what this is on walls and how to remove

[Mattatooi]

Bought our first house and want to start doing some work in Living / Dining. Built in 1975. 3 bed semi. The room has 4 types of finish on the walls! Most of the walls have a lining paper paper on it and painted. Peeling some of this back seems to be smooth finish underneath.

However one of the walls has what looks like to me a smooth artex finish.

This then joins to the Chimney wall which has horrible stuff on it. Really deep textured. However the top half of the chimney is smoother than the lower half were the surround starts, which looks like its been done at a later date. Then the wall beside the chimney which joins the other side is the same as top of chimney breast.

Smoother finish wall:

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• Mattatooi
• 3 Aug 2014
• 1

Smoother wall to chimney breast:

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• Mattatooi
• 3 Aug 2014
• 1

Chimney breast above surround and wall to right of chimney:

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• Mattatooi
• 3 Aug 2014
• 1

The two types of finish above and beside surround:

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• Mattatooi
• 3 Aug 2014
• 1

Close up

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• Mattatooi
• 3 Aug 2014
• 1

Is all of this artex? If it is not artex, what is best way to address this? I am prepared to rid of it all and get it re plastered. Is this stuff likely to have abestos if it is artex? If there is abestos, how to remove this stuff?

The lower stuff around chimney could be Sandtex? Its horrific stuff. Why would anyone put this inside their house is beyond me. I literally could skin myself if i rubbed up against that stuff. Nasty!


Thanks

 

[NickB_99]

Its horrific stuff. Why would anyone put this inside their house is beyond me. I literally could skin myself if i rubbed up against that stuff. Nasty!

I would agree!

However one of the walls has what looks like to me a smooth artex finish.

Is all of this artex? If it is not artex, what is best way to address this? I am prepared to rid of it all and get it re plastered. Is this stuff likely to have abestos if it is artex? If there is abestos, how to remove this stuff?

The lower stuff around chimney could be Sandtex?

If you are worried about asbestos, then assuming it all seems sound underneath, then you can have it skimmed over. This may be your easiest option. for a wall/chimney this won't be too bad.

If you want to remove it, you should probably find out if it contains asbestos - circa 1975 is not out of the question.
If you are saying there are different patches/finishes - you'd probably need to send more than one sample also.
Sanding it is the definite no-no as this creates a lot of dust.

Personally, I've never removed a finish like this off a wall. Assuming it's safe to take off - I would guess (at best) it may take the skim with it and delaminate from what's underneath. Underneath could be undercoat (plaster or render) or even plasterboard. If it doesn't come off easy, you may take a few chunks out the undercoat.
In fact, if it was plasterboard, may be more straight forward to remove all back to brick and reboard (or render) & skim. Depends how far you want to go.
Food for thought anyway.

 

[Mattatooi]

I would rather just take this all off back to the brick and re plaster. I am taking the fire surround and granite panels/hearth out, selling the granite and probably sand down and paint the surround and re use. Blocking up the fire and putting in an electric fire. Putting down new floor and doing other bits of work, so creating a mess isn't a problem!

I just wanted to know if this type of finish on the wall was Artex or not? What other product would it be ? Previous owner lived in property for 29 years (purchased 1985). We had home buyers report done and it didnt mention anything about possible abestos in the living room. It only mentioned that kitchen and bathroom ceiling may have it, but of course would need to be tested.

 

[Mattatooi]

Just an update here. Had a friend builder round and he had a look at it, and we took a wee chunk out to see what it was, and discovered it was just like a textured paint. Once that wee junk was out I was able to get under it and the whole thing is just peeling off the wall so easily. Its just some sort of textured paint and its coming off very easily.

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• Mattatooi
• 7 Aug 2014
• 1

Upon doing this discovered that there is a stud section on one side of the chimney which I presume is where the pipes to the old fire boiler are running upstairs to the tank. They have for whatever reason removed a 5'x1' section of stud and replastered and its done really shoddily! Other than that the plaster is in great condition!

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• Mattatooi
• 7 Aug 2014
• 1

Will finish other side in the morning. My TV needs to move !