Removing ARTEX

[andy2306]

Hi,

How do you go about removing ARTEX, Im not sure if its the asbestos stuff or not, Is it a DIY job with the correct precautions or a job for the pros, or should i just skim it and leave it?

Your thoughts would be appreciated

 

[joe-90]

Scrape the peaks off and skim over it.

 

[Richard C]

Or if you really want to remove it; a decent steamer will do it but it's hot, hard & wet work

 

[andy2306]

Thanks for that,

Do you need to make any considerations for the fact it could contain asbestos?

 

[Richard C]

I think it's the older stuff that has asbestos & then not very much; using the steamer means it’s all pretty wet & scrapes off in flakes so no air born dust is involved. If you are to remove it, first steam the paint till it’s soft &, hopefully, it will peel off in large chunks. Steam the Artex underneath a second time until its saturated & it should scrape off fairly easily without gouging chunks out of the ceiling; a second pair of hands using the steamer makes things a lot quicker.

It won’t be perfect & I had to remove my Artex so I could do a proper job of repairing some old cracks that would have just re-appeared on the new skim. If your Artex is sound, it may be best to skim over the top as joe-90 suggests; it’s no big deal for an accomplished plasterer but it’s not really a job I would recommend for a beginner.

 

[Kes]

A plasterer I discussed this with wouldn't touch skimming over, as if the Artex became soft from the moisture in the plaster the whole lot would start dropping off.

I have cleared Artex off a 4 x 3 bedroom ceiling using a steamer and scraper. It took weeks and I will never be the same again (my neck!). If you do this use a man-sized scraper instead of those weedy decorator things: you can get them from Poundland for, er a quid.

Our laundry room, also Artexed, was boarded over and skimmed. I couldn't face another square inch of scraping.

 

[Richard C]

A plasterer I discussed this with wouldn't touch skimming over, as if the Artex became soft from the moisture in the plaster the whole lot would start dropping off.

Unless you had a specific problem with adhesion, that's brolacks & I suspect he just didn't want to do it; there are several on here who will tell you it's not a problem, just more work!

 

[JohnD]

Is it a good idea to nail up another layer of plasterboard, and skim onto that?

 

[roughcaster]

To skim over artex that is sound, painted or unpainted should never be a problem with the right preparation. As I have said in earlier posts, I used to do a lot of artexing but I get more work nowadays plastering over it than putting it on. I have never had any bother with it.

Roughcaster.

 

[brist]

Never had a problem skimming artex

 

[clout stench]

Only had a couple of problems with artex ceilings in the past.

Once the plaster just started bubbling and peeling off whilst trowelling. This wasn't the artex's fault though because the plaster just took the paint off of the artex leaving bare artex which I scored re pva'd and done it again (this may have been distemper)

A few other times the artex started peeling away when I was scraping the high spots and another time after i'd pva'd it the artex started 'lifting' off.

Both these times I steamed it and removed it before re-skimming, just means more effort but a pain in the arse because you don't allow for this when pricing.

Just try scraping and it will be quite obvious if the artex is sound or not!!

Overboarding is the belt and braces method but means re-coving aswell which means added costs.