ARTEX - why oh why did anyone think this was a good idea? Anyone got know a way to get rid of it?

[fiver]

We have bought a house that needs a lot of 'modernisation' - mostly cosmetic.

There is artex on EVERY ceiling in the house, it is truly vile and I want it gone.

Has anyone got rid of artex before? If so can you help me:
How did you do it?
Did you do it yourself or hired someone to do it?
How hard it is?
Is it v messy?

Ta

[faraday]

Not really helpful- but my boss suggested a small tactical nuclear weapon might do it... Good luck!

[NorbertDentressangle]

According to DP if its never been painted it is possible to steam it off.

If it has been painted you have to get someone in to get all the pointy bits off, PVA it, and skim with several layers of plaster.

[nellie12]

lol at tactical nuclear weapon.
We bought a house with artex on the walls as well wtf?

Anyway the choice seemed to be very expensive and not very efficient artex removal stuff - and probably hours of dh sweating and swearing over it thrown in. Or, getting the plasters in to plaster over the stuff for not much more than it would cost to do ourselves. We chose the latter and it only took them a week to the lounge.

[Doodlez]

There's a new product on the market which you paint over the artex and it leaves it smooth - sort of fills in the troughs. Saw it on the telly last night.

[RubyBlueberry]

DH (who is a plasterer) says scrape bumps off it, PVA it then skim it, or failing that overboard and skim it to get a good surface.

[FluffySaysTheDailyMailsShite]

Watch it, some of the older types have asbestos in them IIRC so I really wouldn't scrape it off to be honest without getting it checked. Your best bet is to plaster over it, it's alot safer.

[DaisymooSteiner]

We just had ours skimmed over, it was fine, didn't need to scrape it off first.

[PacificDogwood]

We had Artex on every ceiling in the house. The decision what if anything to do about it was taken out of our hands when we had major water/rain leak during prolonged reroofing/extension work and every single ceiling crumbled off, lying as a soggy mess on the floor one morning.
Cue lots of re-plastering and redecoration and now it is so smooooooooth I still want to go round stroking it . It was done by professionals which I cannot recommend highly enough. DH and I tackled most other jobs but electricity and plaster, IMO, should be left to the experts.
It was expensive, but oh so worth it.

[fiver]

Thanks
So the concensus seems to be to skim it.

Can I get an ordinary plasterer do this? What's PVA?

[fiver]

Oooo and approximately how much would it cost (per celing!)?

[NorbertDentressangle]

PVA is a white glue, the consistency of runny honey -you probably used it at school.

Get a few plasterers to quote as prices vary regionally.

[NorbertDentressangle]

PS -re the PVA -if you were like me you would have loved peeling dry PVA off your hands at school

[PacificDogwood]

Can't help you with prices as for us it ended up as part of a much bigger project. But yes, get a few quotes, make sure you know exactly what is included in the quote, and then go for it.
Bit of warning: plaster dust gets everywhere (including inside our fridge ).

[fiver]

Oh yes, I remember the stuff
Thanks Norbert

[fiver]

Ok so a messy job then. Eek.

[DaisymooSteiner]

Ours were done as part of skimming other walls in the house so didn't cost much. In fact, I don't think we were charged at all for some of them