Any advice from STW on this?

Mrs Feet has found out that artex pre sometime in the past contains asbestos and wants to do something about our ceilings. The ceilings were all done by an ‘enthusiastic amateur’ (daughter of the previous occupants) and they look just like someone who didn’t know what they were doing, did them.

The smoothover stuff in the DIY sheds has dismal reviews, so guessing that the best option is to suck up the cost and get a professional in to do a skim or something else?

There must be a few people on here had the same dilemma, what did you do and what sort of costs are we looking at?

Thanks

Only real option.

Or skim it…

board it and skim it, £300 ish? i’ll do it…

They are perfectly safe as long as you leave them alone and don’t go drilling holes though etc.

Easiest solution is just to get a plasterer to skim them.

Get a plasterer in to skim it.

In your position I’d get some quotes from plasterers. Trying to do it yourself is likely to be a miserable experience with poor results. As usual try to get recommendations for plasterers to avoid the bodgers.

I have no idea what it will cost as there are so many variables but it’s going to be three figures.

And prepare yourself for a LOT of mess. Do you really look at the ceiling that much…..

The nature of how asbestos was used in Artex, means that it is encapsulated within the artex and has little chance of release. The easiest way to manage it is to as you suggested skim over it with plaster.If you speak to a plasterer tell him it contains asbestos and if he can avoid disturbing it you have no problem, if he needs to knock off the high point to do the work if he uses a good quality mask he will be fine. If you decide to go down the route of removing it you would be better using a removal company. Some artex removals will need a 14 day HSE notification and a method statement and risk assessment carried out by a competent person. Hope this helps.

It depends on just how rough the pattern is, on something thats not too deep, simply skim over with plaster, anything thats deeper would be best to overboard and then skim, either way you’ll want a professional in.

Thats how the plasterers I know do it. Cost wise this will vary region to region but ballpark £200 a day for plasterer + whatever he pays his labourer (if he has one)+ materials, should take no more than a day for your average ceiling though.

Ring a few plasterers. See if any will do the job cheap in their own time.
Our whole house was Artexed downstairs and he charged £200 cash by doing it in sections. I.e if he was working local he just popped around to do a bit, using the materials from the previous job.

>board it and skim it, £300 ish? i’ll do it…<

Waste of money imo.

Just get it skimmed, it’s no big deal.

We took our artex ceilings down and reboarded. Didn’t just reboard as ceilings were already board, plaster, board, artex. No asbestos in our artex though so not an issue with removing.

I took some down using a wall paper steamer (it works really well), but I managed to damaged the plaster underneath, so it needed plastering again anyways… Just had two main ceilings done by a plaster, he knocked off the high points and skimmed it. He’s done an ace job of covering it up

Check when it was artexed to start with then if its before the date when it was banned from use or close to that date get it professionally tested + if you have any doubt about the dates….

I took all of mine down, except one room where I painted the artex with feb blue ( which has grit in it) and it will be plastered in the next week or do.

Harry_the_Spider – Member
Get a plasterer in to skim it.

This + anyone else that says the same. I’ve tried removing it in the past, and always ended up having to get a plasterer in to sort the ensuing mess of a ceiling.

I did one ceiling using the DIY stuff – it was a nightmare and I spent almost as much on that as I did for the local plasterer to come in and do another ceiling.

I reckon getting it skimmed is the answer – we’re slowly getting our house done bit by bit.

+1 for the surprising amount of dust that it will generate.

Skim it. Use a decent plasterer, he’ll be done amazingly quickly.

If you watch the plasterer and think that it’s a quick and easy job, then you’ve got a good’un. Don’t be tempted into trying the next room yourself you will royally mess it up (apparently) and will have to call the good plasterer back.

Thanks all. At the moment we have no idea if there is any asbestos on the existing artex, but it’s minting, so has to be skimmed anyway.

Violence is your friend

See if you can find out roughly how long ago it was done – that would be a big hint towards asbestos content.
Then hire ‘king big rotary sander with vacuum attached and a mask kit, then sand the samn stuff into submission. Then get it skimmed. Cuts down on the plastering required.

As a plasterer,I would scrape down the high edges and unibond the lot, then if it is really thick, a coat of bonding then a skim.PLEASE don’t go near it with a rotary sander. I am in Montrose btw 😉