What is this on my ceiling....

[Gavin Harris]

Hi,

I have recently purchased a house and all of the ceilings are smooth plaster except the living room.

This one seems to be covered with a textured paint or artex. Is anyone able to tell me what it is by looking at it? I've attached a couple of photos.

My gut feeling is that it's some form of textured paint and not artex but any advice welcome.

Thanks

Gavin

 

[Burnerman]

For sure, it looks exactly like Polycell textured ceiling paint to me! Good enough for covering small cracks but that's about it.
John

 

[Gavin Harris]

Thanks John, I thought that might be the case. I’m not actually looking to remove it at the moment, just put some new lights up but obviously don’t want to drill into Artex due to the asbestos risk.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Re-board the ceiling and plaster.

Andy

 

[Gavin Harris]

Do you think there is a need for that? Any risk?

 

[HERTS P&D]

That crack in the ceiling will always be there, I have over boarded all of my ceilings, all my ceilings are now perfect with the added extra fire protection and sound deadening it adds. All round, its a win win.

Andy

 

[Gavin Harris]

Brill thanks Andy. My biggest concern was that it’s Artex. But I’m not sure it is. I don’t think the finish is smooth and even enough

 

[foxhole]

Looks like textured paint to hide poor ceiling , asbestos in artex was banned around 20 years ago .

 

[conny]

I had that in my last house. It's (Polycell), textured ceiling paint, definitely not artex of any description.

That crack will never disappear, in fact the more paint you cover it with the more they will begin to stand out.
Over boarding and skimming with plaster will give you a ceiling that will last for years.
Regarding the lights, all you would need to do would be disconnect them, put a small hole through for the cables and when re-mounting them use longer screws into the joists to ensure a secure fixing. The ends of the boards would butt up against the walls and be covered by coving.

 

[EdTurtle]

We had artex on one of our ceilings that looked exactly the same as this, we also overboarded it.