I’m stripping the wall paper out of my kitchen today, no problems. Some walls, though, are artexed. What is the best way of getting rid of this? It looks shite and has to go. Reading online it sounds like you can steam it off and strip it, but it’s a lot of (messy) work. Anyone tried it?

You can buy Artex stripper. However, lots of folk knock off the highest bumps and filler/plaster the rest to restore a smooth surface.

probably get it re-skimmed by a plasterer,
steaming it sounds like too much work and you’ll have to do something with it (finish wise) afterwards anyway, ie plaster

Befor knocking the stuff about, how old is it? Older artex has asbestos in it. Stick to the wet and messy method to avoid filling the house with fibres. You no longer need a licence to remove it.

How old is it? Doesn’t some artex contain asbestos?

I found a stiff wire brushing to abrade the surface makes it much easier to soak the paper.

I did a whole kitchen using a stanley knife blade. Took a while. How old is the Artex, I ask because an artexer whose been doing it for years told me that in the past it used to contain asbestos. White rather than blue so not the most dangerous but still best to avoid creating any dust.

Thanks for the replies – It could be as old as the hills as it’s in an old Edinburgh tenemant flat. If I get it skim plastered, will the plasterer want the paint removed, or can you plaster onto paint?

Semtex. Only way to remove it permanently.

I hate Artex. Looks sh1t, and is a total **** to remove. I would happily torture people who think it’s a good idea.

Move house?

you can re-plaster over,
but i think you’ll have to use a bonding agent, like unibond or a pva type thing and literally paint the walls with it,

if the artex is coming away from the wall then the weight of the plaster could bring it all down. but should be fine as its only a skim coat
get a plasterer to come and quote you, and see what they say,

The paint will be fine. Plasterer will give it a coat of unibond let it dry, give it another coat and plaster while it’s still tacky. I’ve had artex ceilings plastered over and it’s not a problem. Artexed walls in kitchens! just how stupid would you have to be to think that was a good idea?

“Move house?”

I’d say that’s a perfectly rational and reasonable answer.

**** Artex… 😡

1. remove any loose and anything over about 4mm with scraper 2. if the artex is painted with a non pourus paint(vynil silk)paint with large brush 20%water 80%pva builders adhisive,5 lt-£15.if painted with matt paint(pourus)60%water 40% pva.both these aplicaitons will leave a seal with is nessasery for the plaster to get a bond.any problems email me.(pro builder)the dogs b…cks

We just knocked off the top (down to about 2mm depth) and the plasterer plastered over it. Didnt use any form of coatings between as far as I remember, been fine since.

nuke it from orbit… its the only way to be sure…

coffeeking.i,d love to see this finished job it it wasn,t pva,d dry unsealed walls suck like f..k.sucks the life out of the plaster so cant be trowled up……cowboy……

in my first house i got it off in the living room with a wallpaper steamer, i had to hold it on each patch for ages and then scrape off the goo, not a very nice job. In this house we’ve just had it all plastered over, much easier! Our plasterer did pva it beforehand.

as per swiss tony I’ve used a steamer on my kitchen ceiling – worked ok, but where I got it too damp ,the plaster skin under-neath came off too.
So it had to be re-skimmed(?) any ways.

as per robhughes advice, our house was almost 100% artexed inside when we arrived, frigging awful. After some advice we did just that. Went round ourselves knocking the loose stuff off, PVA’d the walls twice, got a plasterer in to do the lot.

On roughly the same vein, we have half a house full of woodchip wallpaper to strip. I’m thinking of getting one of these –

😉

If the artex is pre 1990 there’s a good chance it has asbestos in it. Not always but better check i’d say.

I survey buildings for asbestos for a living and this f*cking stuff is a pain in the arse!

Drop me an email if you need some advise on addressing it

stuartgoss at hotmail.com

There are a few ways of tackling it, either way its a messy thank less task!