What would you do with these ceilings...?

[Emmajane88]

Recently got the keys to a new place and have artex in a couple of rooms.

I'd love to get rid but would anyone do this without having first checked for asbestos...? Didn't come up on survey but not sure I'd expect it to. Would it matter if they were covered over rather than sanded back?

Also, any idea of cost for these works? I'm in London so not expecting cheap sadly but don't want to be ripped off either! Living room and hallway.

I would err on the side of caution and assume they contain asbestos till proven otherwise!! Definitely don’t sand them if asbestos containing!!!!! But you can cover over them.

Best practice if they ARE asbestos is to minimise disturbance, so as I understand it covering the artex up by skimming or overboarding it is acceptable. The main downside of this approach that I can see is the risk that someone comes along later and disturbs it without knowing it's there.

We have these ceilings and possible asbestos. Got a plasterer to skim over. Cost £140.

Skim!

Wow who do you know @doritodiva!

Is it def sorted and not wood chip wallpaper?

Skimming sounds like the option... what do you do where the light fittings are/if they need changing... I'm guessing someone in the past has changed without thinking.

@WaltzingBetty

Is it def sorted and not wood chip wallpaper?

Yeah it's artex, the pointy stippled type - which is better than the patterned but still not very nice...

We had that in our house got it tested didn't cost much £170 for 5 ceilings and a few walls, and it was asbestos so please don't sand it back!

Also we got a quote for the works and negotiated it off the sale price

It was absolutely painless to get all ceilings removed and re plastered

Just have them skimmed over , we had ours done and they were wedding cake artex patterns, no need to disturb any asbestos.

We had our ceilings done about 6 months ago.

We tested two rooms for asbestos. One had it and one didn’t. We ended up testing every room in the end.

I’m so glad we replastered. The rooms look so much better.

@Emmajane88 sorry, that was just for one living room ceiling. Most of the others were done before we moved in. But we still have a few more left to do.

Ours were skimmed over. The advice we were given was that any asbestos that may be present would be low level and covered by paint so it shouldn't worry us.
So get it skimmed and painted, job done.