Awful 1970s artex- what do people actually do?

[Jukeboxtardis]

Need to work out what to do with a mouldy artex ceiling. Presumably it contains asbestos. Online I'm seeing ways to remove it with gel or steaming but I think in practice what people do is get it skimmed over. It's the stalagtite type and impossible to clean so I'm worried about whether plaster would bond to it

Photo! Hard to show quite how bad it is! Much more horrible than normal artex

We had loads skimmed over in our old house, no problem and looked great after.

We got it skimmed over

We're in the same position, though interestingly when we had our asbestos survey they identified that it was chipboard paper rather than artex, and there's no asbestos present in the whole house! We're going to strip the chipboard paper, but if it had been asbestos containing artex would've done as you're thinking and just had it skimmed.

I had mine tested for asbestos (none present, thankfully), then a plasterer skimmed it over. I’m glad I had it done.

When we had our woodchip ceiling skimmed they put plaster boards on first so no issues with it not sticking if you can do that?

So I'm thinking asbestos survey first? Any recommendations for how we get that done?

Also surely I'd have to remove the black mould before skimming and I don't know how

https://www.asbestos-sampling.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzZmwBhD8ARIsAH4v1gXm9xbbSpS-ag-Gc9K-AL3uBTlgolG6knaod4dDb2F8PYnUEs18yW8aAgMnEALw_wcB

you can buy testing kits to do it yourself.

Thanks @bilbodog just wondering now whether breaking a bit off myself for sampling is likely to cause asbestos dust to come loose. And what do we do if it's asbestos?

Some asbestos isnt dangerous which means you would be safe to get it skimmed over. If it was a more dangerous type then you probably would want to get it removed. The kit has full instructions with it.

We had ours skimmed. Totally worth it, the rooms feel so much bigger and calmer with it done. Our house is a 1989 build so no asbestos.

Same as others above. House is 1990 so no asbestos. All ceilings were artexed with a different pattern in every room, they were hideous. All skimmed and they look fab!!

Get an asbestos test kit, it has full instructions.

Never heard about there being different types of asbestos, will research... still wondering what to do with the black mould any ideas anyone?

Just skim it. Even if a survey says no asbestos it might be present, just not in the areas tested. I believe it is safe to skim over it though.

And if I want to skim and put spotlights in is that safe?

No such thing as non-dangerous asbestos. All asbestos is dangerous. It is likely chrysotile asbestos in artex which is the lesser of the evils, but it's still dangerous to your health.

There is no legal obligation to remove any asbestos from your home. You could skim over the much nastier varieties as well if you choose.

https://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/essentials/

That's all you need to know there really!

I had a new "false" ceiling put up so I could have spotlights. They fixed 2x2 wood to the existing beams, ran the wires and then put new plaster board on and skimmed it with the finish coat.

Use something like this for the mould
https://amzn.eu/d/6eGuNNA

It's potent though so make sure you ventilate the room well.

Well this is total bollocks. I’ve worked in the asbestos industry 15 years. All of it is dangerous. There is no known safe exposure.

OP, just get it tested by a UKAS accredited lab. There are plenty across the country. I work in one myself. You don’t need to pay for a full survey. If you chose to send a sample off, the correct way to do it would be to sample from two or even three different points across the ceiling. Textured coating isn’t necessarily homogenous or well mixed, and on rare occasions can be a false negative.

Most plasterers and sparkies will want to see a cert before they work with that ceiling anyway.

@DogFacedWoman but doesn't a second ceiling involve drilling into the existing one to fix it on? Isn't drilling the exact type of thing you can't do with asbestos?

@SquashPenguin thanks this is good advice I'll get it tested as you suggest

@GrandPoohba yes I do use that mould spray elsewhere in the house but I can't figure out how to spray it on the ceiling- seems I'd have to be wearing goggles and cover myself in some kind of massive dust sheet so it doesn't get in my hair and on my clothes 🤔

You could spray it onto a sponge and wipe it on?