couple of ceilings in the house are covered in artex, lovely stuff eh? :-/

its cracked in a couple of places, (probably where we’ve walked about above it in the loft), and we’re in the middle of painting the whole house. do we use some sort of filler/adhesive to hide the cracks? im tempted to start peeling it and watch it all come away leaving lovely smooth plaster underneath but guess that wont happen, itll just make a mess that i wish i hadnt started.
or thirdly, (and what im guessing will happen), do i just paint over it best i can while the rollers are out and wait til we can get it skimmed over by a pro?

btw, i also hear theres asbestos involved so if i disturb it ill be dustmasked up.

thanks

Fill and paint till you can get it skimmed. May contain asbestos depending on the age. Best not to find out.

There is a artex remover you can buy…I never used it tho.
The only jobs I get are to plaster over old artex.
Just remember that taking off the old artex could leave your ceiling in need of having to be skimmed over….which is what you are trying to avoid!!

Might just be best to fill and paint till you have the funds.

I would recommend using caulk for the cracks ..wiped over with a damp sponge/cloth or finger, do this a few times between drying as it will shrink once dry

Don’t bother trying to remove it, just get it skimmed over. It’s not that expansive to get it done.

As an ex-plasterer,it is second only to porridge in its ability to weld itself to smooth surfaces. Don’t try to scrape it,get it skimmed.

Skim +1

We had the worlds shonkyest plasterer (a family friend), despite not turning up before 10, taking fag breaks every 5 minutes, and not managing 24 hours ‘on site’ in the whole week including 2 hour lunch breaks and even he managed to do it for £250/room in SE england. Really should have been able to do it in 2 days, 1/2 day per room.

If you want to make the plasterers life easy, paint the ceiling with builders PVA before they arrive, 2 coats will seal it nicely and help the plaster stick. Saves them the first 2 hours of waiting for the PVA to dry.

I’d say get it tested for asbestos, it’s not that expensive in the grand scheme of things. About £150 when we moved into this place. Every ceiling is aretexed, luckily, none of it contains asbestos (i get enough exposure at work).

Would it not just crack again?

We slapped some plaster board up and had that skimmed. Bit more insulation, we knew the boards were screwed into the rafters so no issue with extra weight on the artex causing it to come off, bit more insulation.

We have very high ceilings so the loss of an inch was no big issue, we wanted to put up some new coving as well.

The Artex thing is a bit of a red herring. Artex is a proprietary product, so not all “Artex” ceilings are Artex. They were the only ones to put asbestos in their product, and they only did it for a certain period, therefore chances are pretty low that you have Asbestos

As mentioned above by those in the trade, skim it as that will stop and disturbance if it is asbestos. Asbestos is only a problem if disturbed

thanks chaps, looks like i was thinking correctly then, itll be making do for now. ill use caulk tho to fill it first before painting over. we’ll maybe be having some building work done later in the year so replastering can wait til then.

thanks a lot

Would it not just crack again?

Ours had a couple of cracks in it, nothing bowing/sagging just where somethings shifted over 40 years. Plastered straight over them after a liberal brushing of PVA and pushing some plaster in with a finger.

Our ceilings aren’t low (2.3m IIRC) but for some reason look low so we just skimmed rather than battens/boards. Then put coving up.

My old house is full of the stuff and only got round to sorting the kitchen out so far when had that done. The fitters put up boards. Lowers the ceiling slightly but job done.

Old Victorian house and cracks all over the place. I’ve filled cracks in the ceiling but all that does is give me a line of obvious filler instead of a crack.

I need the rest done before selling really as it’s oddly instant turn off and people walk away, even if it’s something they can easily sort out. Personally I don’t really have a problem with the stuff, other than mine just looks old and tired with cracks all over it.

Out of interest, mine look like someone’s just gone over with ripple paint stuff. Uneven in places.

Wack up new plasterboard tape and joint its easy.

Get it skimmed, it’ll cost a lot less than you think and leave a perfect surface.

Which reminds me, must pay our plasterer…

There is a artex remover you can buy…I never used it tho.

I have. After a couple of days’ scraping, filling and sanding, I managed to make a small bathroom ceiling look slightly better than before I started.

I’ve paid a plasterer for all subsequent jobs.