Covering up artex?

[PurpleDaisies]

We got the keys to our new house today and it turns out we totally failed to notice all the ceilings are covered in artex. It's horrible. How can we deal with this most cheaply?

You either have to sand it down, or plaster over, no easy solution.

No, don't sand it down! A lot of Artex of a certain age is made from asbestos!

We got a plasterer to go over ours.

I didn't know about artex potentially containing asbestos. Maybe plastering is the best option.

Damn-we're almost out of money after the move. We might have to live with it for a bit.

I agree with not sanding it down due to asbestos risks. You will need to get a plasterer in, for an average sized living room you will be looking at £300 ish.

We didn't either and our house has is on ceilings and walls! It's horrendous! So far on the 18 months we've been here we've only done the kitchen.

I was told by my plasterer that if it's been done in the 80's/90's it's unlikely to contain asbestos as it was last used in artex in the early 70's.

It's actually easy to remove with a steamer and scraper but it's a very messy job. I'd go for plastering over it. You could give it a go yourself with finishing plaster, it isn't going to look any worse than the artex and won't cost you anywhere near as much as paying a plasterer.

I had every single wall and ceiling in every single room of the house to fix. Each room had its own theme for the artex pattern. I had castles, wheat fields, weird fake stone wall effect, tonnes of the crap

Would echo pps about danger of Artex - we were told it was unlikely that ours had any asbestos, but I felt uneasy about it and paid to have it assessed before we forked out for it plastered. Turned out some rooms did contain asbestos within the Artex, some didn't. (From memory I think you can get it assessed with a DIY assessment kit IIRC).

I know it doesn't matter as long as you don't disturb it, but I feel a lot better about sorting it out and wish we'd done it sooner. We had one just plastered over, and a couple completely covered up, then plastered over, and I would recommend that for what it's worth. I know that's not particularly cheap though. But please don't risk doing it yourself if you're not sure.

Wow odin, different patterns for every room sounds even worse than mine!

We might just have to do our bedroom for now and let the finances recover. At least the rest of the house is basically fine apart from needing painting.

Don't worry letthehaybegin, we'll be getting a plasterer. I've been on the trusted trader website just now lining up potential people.

Oh god I completed today and have also got textured ceilings I didn't notice on viewing!

Maybe be should found a little support group yello.

Is the rest of your house mainly ok?

We've got it too. Have lived with it for six years, don't really notice it now. Will be receiving an inheritance next year - now going through probate, not anticipating someone popping their clogs - which we're going to use to do the house up with and one of the first jobs will be getting rid of the bloody artex.

My 2 DDs were just only recently admiring their grandparents fan shaped artex patten on the ceiling. We had all of our ceilings skimmed smooth, so maybe artex will be the next big thing with the younger generation..?!

House built 1986 here, tested, found asbestos in artex to ceilings. Mid-80s houses still have lots of potential for this. It costs about £70 to get a material sample tested round here.

is the rest of your house mainly ok?

It's all much more tatty than I remember and now without furniture you can see all the bodge jobs. Nothing has been done the nice way, everything has been done for ease/cheapness.

But I think it will be ok once I've decorated. I was just going to paint myself but now considering getting the bedroom walls and ceelings skimmed.

How is the rest of yours?

We had some rooms replastered (they scraped off the artex then skimmed over). The plasterers said as it was installed circa 1990 it wouldn't contain asbestos. Worried now after some of the replies on here!

Don't know a cheap easy fix OP but it is worth it. Very messy though, walls needed cleaning and repainting afterwards.

Very much the same yello-I remember it as being modern and smart but it really is in need of painting and there's a lot of orangey toned oak. I think industrial quantities of white wood and freshening up the walks will sort most of it.

We had awful swirly artex in every room in our 1950s semi. We had an asbestos survey done (I think it was about £300, they tested everywhere in the house) and the ceilings were fine. We had it plastered over and it looks much better/less dated.

We've got it on the ceilings in the house we're buying too (80's). I think we're going to have to live with it until we can afford to have it plastered. Fortunately it's not too offensive a pattern (stippled effect really).