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

And... sorry to repeat myself but what does one do if there is asbestos present? Can it be removed or does it have to be encapsulated in plaster?

It's all in the HSE link I posted.

I'm not familiar with the guidelines behind asbestos, so you'd best get it tested. I was just giving an option for if you were wanting spotlights. It's an easy way to kill 2 birds with one stone and you get the added benefit that you wouldn't have to lift the floor upstairs to run the wiring for them.

Ours has asbestos. Plasterer wouldn't skim over, because they would have had to knock off the peaks and also said the plaster wouldn't hold long term. We had all ours removed by professionals and new ceilings before we moved in.

@NCForQuestions ive found it now. Interesting. So can a general builder do this kind of work drilling into a ceiling or does it have to be someone with a certificate? https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/a26.pdf

We did this too
and there definately different types of asbestos

Plasterers tell me the best thing with artex in general is just to reboard and or plaster over it. But if it may be asbestos, it might be wise to find out by having it tested. With asbestos, it's often better to leave it in place, but that depends on where it is, whether it is painted, and so on. You need to take advice from a professional if it is asbestos.

@Jeevesnotwooster this is what I feared, the peaks on ours are up to 1cm and easy to knock off which is why I haven't tried the sponge/ bleach method to clean it

Also @Jeevesnotwooster what did the professional removal involve and how much did it cost?

Try X-Tex.

The removal was straightforward as the house was vacant. They laid down sheets and just knocked the whole lot out and placed into bags, which they took away. They seemed quite relaxed about their own health but they all had suits and face masks. They also leave all the windows and doors open to air for the rest of the day. Apparently the dust disperses quite quickly.

Cost was thousands - but that was a whole house. For a room for removal and replacement perhaps £1-2k?

@NosyNorahsNeighbour have you used this?

@Jeevesnotwooster that sounds alarming! We will not be moving out for the bathroom renovation

Not yet but I have bought it and I'm going to try it on swirly ceiling and walls 😩

Will use it next month.

Argh! You have swirly walls too! The swirly stuff isn't as bad as what we have though. Ours is full of spiders webs, mould, dust, I'm convinced trying to stick plaster to it won't work

Also I don't mind encapsulated asbestos but encapsulated dust, mould and general crap from the last 40 years doesn't appeal to me, I don't want to lie on the bath thinking about what's trapped up there

Let me know how it goes @NosyNorahsNeighbour

@SquashPenguin
Could I ask which testing company you would recommend? Would you do it for walls in Victorian house? Or for a loft conversion done in 2005? Sorry - just grappling with this myself and it's giving me sleepless nights as mesothelioma is on the rise.

Just another adding that ours tested negative. We had it skimmed and it looks great.
contact a company to come and do the test, they drill a small sample and will advise how to proceed if it’s positive (we had asbestos tiles elsewhere that were not dangerous and we were told we could remove ourselves with some precautions) good luck!

@Jeevesnotwooster that is not how you remove asbestos, if you do it that way it stays in the air within the house FOREVER. Of course the workmen were not too concerned, they don’t have to live there.
We had some removed from our house, we moved out, they tented the house to create negative pressure and removed it properly. Either do that or leave it untouched.

@EasterFox I was thinking that sounded like the exact opposite to how I would expect it to be dealt with. But I wasn't sure what would be the right way hence asking

@Apollo365 thats good- I just feel sure ours must be asbestos as I am sure it was last renovated in the 70s.

We've had artex ceilings plastered over in various houses and never had it tested

Spray it with mould spray. Wickes do a brilliant one. It will get rid of mould within a day. Wipe it over. Leave to dry for a day. It's safest to get it skimmed over. That is the advice they give for asbestos. It seals it. If you wanted to get it removed you'd have to have a specialist company and they ain't cheap. After skimming leave to dry for about a week then paint over as normal.

Oh gosh. I've just had my living room plastered, they scraped the worst of the peaks and skimmed it. I'd had such varying quotes - highest was £1500 and this was £400. I had 3 people quote, nobody mentioned asbestos or doing testing.

Looks nice and smooth though, plan is to paint this weekend now it's had a decent time to dry out properly (2 weeks).

Do you have to remove all the furniture to have the ceilings skimmed? I'm not sure I can face that.