Plastering ceilings

[AKissIsNotAContract]

Does anyone know what a ballpark figure would be for plastering over all the artex ceilings in an average size 3 bed semi? We are in the south east. Obviously we'll get someone in to quote us but I just wanted a rough idea.

Guessing around £1,500

We paid about £200 per ceiling. But we didn't get them all done at once, so might be cheaper if you were doing them all at the same time.

weve just paid £900 for three quarters of a five bedroom house in the west Midlands

oooh interesting, i need this done.

can i hijack momentarily to ask: is it a fairly easy job? does it take long? can they do it in a kitchen without having to take cupboards off the walls?

Ours took a day per room.

we paid £80 for two walls which were about 18sq mtrs in total. this didnt include material but a bag of plaster is only £1.50 so materials were about £10.

Bundaberg - yes they can normally do a kitchen wall without taking the cupboards off the wall. should not take more than 4 hrs to do a roof. its the finishing which takes time, putting it on is easy but they need to keep going over it to polish it up, once the plaster turns colour its done.

sorry I meant to say they can do kitchen roof without taking cupboards off not a kitchen wall.

I would agree with about £200 per room with maybe a slight discount if you have several done at the same time. Its a pain though you'll have to move furniture out of rooms etc

Have you checked whether there's asbestos in the Artex as there often is? We've got this in our new house and we're having the ceilings replaced as we didn't like the thought of asbestos being in our home.

Asbestos may (only may) be present in pre 1985 artex ceilings. It is harmless unless disturbed, asbestos can only hurt you if the fibres are released by it being broken or drilled or sanded etc. We had ours plastered over to avoid releasing any fibres during the removal process.

Gintastic - I wasn't aware of that method ie plastering BEFORE removal. The process has evolved I believe as our ceiling is going to be removed completely - so no plastering involved. (Surely a cheaper option than what you had to do)

I've just paid 680 for the entire downstairs ceilings of a three bed house and that included removing and replacing one (disgusting) polystyrene tile ceiling, and skimming one wall.

I can recommend a plasterer if you're near Southampton, I'm so happy with my smooth ceilings!

We didn't remove it at all. It's safely encapsulated behind the plaster where it can do no harm.

If you really want it gone, then some fibres WILL be released during the removal process as the artex is disturbed, therefore if you want to be 100% sure it's gone, an air test to confirm that no fibres are present should be done.

I.e we avoided the removal process by plastering over the top. Just reread my post and it was a bit ambiguous!

its a pain in that you need to empty rooms and also unscrew light fittings and in our case remove the old wallpaper that comes up to the ceilings.

and then the painting afterwards..
but its not too messy. basically just disruptive.

we are pleased we are having it done now before we start decorating.

I think all reputable asbestos removers would do the air test: it's part of the legal requirements.

I'm sure they would. But plastered over artex is exceptionally low risk, and it's cheaper, quicker and an awful lot less mess than removing a ceiling, taking up all the carpets, air testing etc.

If I bought a house that had had warm air heating, then I would definitely be getting the specialists in as the ducts were often asbestos lagged.

Some types of internal doors, lots of floor tiles and toilet cisterns of a certain era will also almost certainly contain asbestos. None present a risk to health unless disturbed or broken in any way.

Is plastering over the artex same as skimming? Does the coving need to be removed before skimming? Will it ruin the carpet and wallpaper? Can anyone please explain the process of skimming an artex wall? The house we are looking to buy has an artex ceiling in the sitting room and I would like to skim over it ASAP. Just wondering is it safe to do so and how disruptive it is going to be.

pinkle:
yes. no. maybe.
our carpets were untouched. the walls needed touching up at the least around the top. they know we are redecorating though so maybe they didn't try to be tidy along the tops.

basically the process seemed to be: sand down ceilings a bit to get the particular ridges down (don't know if they would do that if asbestos present), stick some glue stuff on and leave it a bit, mix up plaster, slap it on, spend ages crafting it like cake icing to be perfect and smooth. the end. fairly simple but quite precise to get it looking good.

Thanks Poocatcher. It's a 1950s house so possible asbestos. I just have to make sure they don't sand it then.

What about if a stupid builder has put his foot through several parts of your ceilings? We've got whole sheets of plasterboard loose on our ceilings, are we going to have to have them taken down or can they rescues the board in, replace the broken ones and then replaster?

Sorry that should say re-screw not rescues...

I doubt that any artex is from the 1950's. I think it was very popular in the 80's which is, I think when mine is from. Wanting most of mine skimmed too.

We just paid £583 for our lounge ceiling but it is really big and high and on a slope. They needed a scaffolding tower to do it. We paid £100 for the spare room to be done by the same plasterer.