What to do with old artex

[Johntheboy]

Hi,

I'm in the process of buying a house which is in great condition and solid, however the decor does need updating throughout. The hallway and staircase, all the walls are finished in artex which I want to remove or cover over to just have painted walls.

Just wondering the best way to go about this. Would I need to strip all the artex back and have the walls skimmed or can I just have the walls skimmed over the artex? If I did this would it give me any problems over time?

Many thanks!

 

[Burnerman]

Have it skimmed over the top, mate......there's a chance there may be asbestos involved in the artex, and chipping it off leaves one hell of a mess anyway.
John

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

You need to assess or have assessed whether the artex contains asbestos,
Depending on the age it could be an asbestos mix.

The methods to remove artex are to soften it first before scraping off.

The is product called ex-tex that is good for this, but a bit messy and sticky process.

An option would be to remove peaks, prime with bond it and replaster surface.

 

[Johntheboy]

If there is asbestos involved, will this be picked up on the survey I'm having done next week?

 

[OwainDIYer]

If there is asbestos involved, will this be picked up on the survey I'm having done next week?

The survey will probably say "textured coatings over a certain age may contain asbestos and a specialist report would be required to ascertain if this is the case"

Along with a lot of other arse-covering indecisiveness.