Advice please. What is the best way to get rid of artex. Is it breatheable if so could I plaster over or use plasterboard or should I get the whole lot removed by a specialist I think it may have asbestos in it. There is some damp in the sitting room and I am not sure if the artex is allowing the walks to breathe. Any advice most welcome. Thanks.
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MatthewC
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Hi Annie, welcome!
What sort of house do you have, how old is it and what are the walls made of?
The ideal would be to remove it all by manual means and plaster with lime. Even before you go to that trouble, I would do all the other (easier) things such as checking roof coverings, rainwater goods and the height of the ground outside. If you have one damp room it implies that there is some specific cause in that area - is the room well ventilated and what sort of floor does it have? I'll bet you also have other modern "solutions" based on cement products around the house.
Best of luck
Matthew
What sort of house do you have, how old is it and what are the walls made of?
I am quite sure that Artex prevents any breathing at all - one of the modern world's less appealing inventions... I guess that dry lining with plasterboard is one solution but that won't help breathability either. Perhaps, as a starter, you should get a test done to confirm or deny the presence of asbestos?Annie said:
The ideal would be to remove it all by manual means and plaster with lime. Even before you go to that trouble, I would do all the other (easier) things such as checking roof coverings, rainwater goods and the height of the ground outside. If you have one damp room it implies that there is some specific cause in that area - is the room well ventilated and what sort of floor does it have? I'll bet you also have other modern "solutions" based on cement products around the house.
Best of luck
Matthew
Hi and welcome, Annie 
I can't imagine it being breathable or helping your damp situation in any way and I would definitely also want to get rid of the evil stuff! Getting it checked for asbestos would be my first move, although I've no experience of it personally - I do recall a few years back my parents had it on their kitchen ceiling and Pip skimmed over it for them rather than getting it removed - but I do know that the nasty woodchip and other textured wall/ceiling papers we inherited when we bought our current house were doing a jolly good job at trapping moisture.
Our house is a bit of an odd one, as it's built into an escarpment the result being that on the lane side ground levels are considerably higher than on the garden front. Our first floor office is one such room and had been slathered in woodchip/textured paper and liberal helpings of emulsion since the 1970s or earlier. The water literally ran down the walls in heavy downpours. Once the layers were stripped back, the improvement was immediately apparent as you could see the wall drying out :roll:
Proper ventilation goes a long way too of course and we now throw open our Crittalls at every opportunity, lol!
Look forward to hearing about your progress/seeing some pics!
Mims x
I can't imagine it being breathable or helping your damp situation in any way and I would definitely also want to get rid of the evil stuff! Getting it checked for asbestos would be my first move, although I've no experience of it personally - I do recall a few years back my parents had it on their kitchen ceiling and Pip skimmed over it for them rather than getting it removed - but I do know that the nasty woodchip and other textured wall/ceiling papers we inherited when we bought our current house were doing a jolly good job at trapping moisture.
Our house is a bit of an odd one, as it's built into an escarpment the result being that on the lane side ground levels are considerably higher than on the garden front. Our first floor office is one such room and had been slathered in woodchip/textured paper and liberal helpings of emulsion since the 1970s or earlier. The water literally ran down the walls in heavy downpours. Once the layers were stripped back, the improvement was immediately apparent as you could see the wall drying out :roll:
Proper ventilation goes a long way too of course and we now throw open our Crittalls at every opportunity, lol!
Look forward to hearing about your progress/seeing some pics!
Mims x
jocelyn plummer
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Artex is one of the most evil finishes imaginable-- we have inherited it in our forever downsize--fortunately only on the ceilings. It harbours dust, cobwebs, spiders and certainly does not breathe. We have found a fantastic plasterer who has already removed it from 2 areas- replastered and coved. As the artex was only stippled he simply scraped it off before plastering giving me a lovely smooth ceiling-no more dust and dirt there! He made very little mess and worked very quickly, charging me about £260 all in -for the landing and bathroom, the bathroom measures about 10ft x 9ft and the landing about 15ft long x 10 wide--bit precarious over the stairwell with 2 ladders and a plank--but he's still alive to return for the next lot when I am ready !!!!!!!
Tony. said:
This just can't be emphasised enough. It would be handy if Annie were to respond with the age of her property, because Artex had asbestos added to it well into the 1980's (http://www.asbestosmanagementsolutionsnw.co.uk/index.php?about=Asbestos-In-Artex&p=313), so unless the house was built after this date, DIY Artex removal is a no-no.
TheRoost
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In our first house, 2000 built, the Artex on the ceiling was a bit like plaster of paris, very soft and powdery, the 'peaks' could be knocked off very easily and the remainder sanded flat for over plastering. I believe modern Artex even while free of Asbestos, is still hazardous if it's dust particles are breathed in.
Definitely get it checked for asbestos first. Also, you need to know what is underneath it. If it was spread over lime plaster (sacrilege I know, but that is what I was faced with), then wetting it may allow it to be scraped off. If it has been painted then you will need to strip the paint off first. Sometimes scraping the peaks off allows you to wet the artex and scrape it away without having to use paint stripper. In difficult areas, I used a home-made paint stripper of caustic soda and wallpaper paste.
Spoilt Victorian Child
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If you *do* get it checked for asbestos and it is found, but then for whatever reason you decide not to remove it but to do a direct skim on top, I think you are legally obliged to advise any future purchasers of the house that you have done this (and specify where), as a safety precaution for if they ever want to cut into/remove the plaster from that now seemingly innocent looking wall.
This disclosure could obviously impact the sale/price of your house.
You can get the tests done yourself for £40 if you are able to safely chip a bit of artex off (fingernail size is recomended). I used these people
http://www.bradley-enviro.co.uk/services/asbestos-consultants/asbestos-sample-testing.html
...who were very friendly when I phoned up to ask how to collect a sample, how it was tested and how to interpret the results. Took just a few days ISTR.
If you've got it in several places it's worth sending samples from each place. Mine came back positive for the ceiling in one room, but not for another (think it was just textured paint).
This disclosure could obviously impact the sale/price of your house.
You can get the tests done yourself for £40 if you are able to safely chip a bit of artex off (fingernail size is recomended). I used these people
http://www.bradley-enviro.co.uk/services/asbestos-consultants/asbestos-sample-testing.html
...who were very friendly when I phoned up to ask how to collect a sample, how it was tested and how to interpret the results. Took just a few days ISTR.
If you've got it in several places it's worth sending samples from each place. Mine came back positive for the ceiling in one room, but not for another (think it was just textured paint).
MatthewC
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That sounds like the stuff (done in 1993) in a house I once owned. A leak in the loft actually caused some of it to fall off!TheRoost said: