Sodding Artex

[Halude]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums, so all help would be appreciated at this stage,

Im currently in the process of buying my first home and i will be re-renovating the property with electrics, plumbing,

currently at the moment the whole house is covered in stuip horrid artex walls and celings,

the artex has high raised nodules that i was thinking of going along with a sharpe scraper and take off the tops of it, then re-skim with plaster,

however the house is covered in it, and this will take ages,

i know this method would make a dust mess, would it be wise to get a portable belt sander from the local tool hire, to get it all off that way,

any help would be appreciated,

Kind regards
Halude

 

[joe-90]

No.

 

[Halude]

Hi Joe thank you for your response, do you have any other thoughts on this matter of a direction i could go to make the job quicker?

regards

Halude

 

[joe-90]

You were right first off. A sharp angle headed scraper to take the peaks of then skim.

 

[roy c]

I think before you do anything, find out if the artex has asbestos in it. I know they stopped putting it in after a certain date. Some of the lads on here will know when that was....

 

[roughcaster]

Artex in the 60's and 70's, even up to the early 80's, would have definitely had a small amount of asbestos in it. After that, around 1986/87, things changed. I started using a product called Nutex 2000, and on the bag in big letters, it proudly boasted, "asbestos free", so if i were you, i'd proceed with care. If you know when the house was built, say late 80's onwards, you can more or less be certain it is asbestos free artex, but if it was built earlier, you may not know what's in the artex. You can get a sample tested for asbestos. I think it costs around £30 ish, but if you have kids in the house, it'll be well worth knowing what they and you are breathing in should you start scraping it off. Better off getting it skimmed if it's sound.

 

[plasteringpaul]

Artex can be enough of a ball ache for a competent plasterer and can catch us all out...

Don't even try to sand artex or plaster a whole. House...you either need a decent spread to do it or you will take £0000s of the value of your new home if you fix it yourself...

This is a diy section

Small jobs

 

[Halude]

Thank you for all your input,

The house is id say a 60 - 70's house,

I was toying with the idea but it will cost more, to chop out the plasterboard and have it re done, we are having a full house rewire also so this might be a good time to do it?

or is skimming over artex the simpler option?

 

[NickB_99]

The house is id say a 60 - 70's house,

I was toying with the idea but it will cost more, to chop out the plasterboard and have it re done, we are having a full house rewire also so this might be a good time to do it?

or is skimming over artex the simpler option?

Would get the electrics done first before any skimming - a few channels may need cutting out.

Then get the artex skimmed.
If it's a bit peaky even after scraping, get your plasterer to put on a tight bonding coat before the skim. Then should have no worries of any bumps showing through.

 

[SparrowHawk99]

95% chance that your artex has asbestos in it and I'm not one of the people that thinks it should be covered up for someone else to find.

The best thing IMO is to go from room to room removing the artex slowly with a very sharp long handled scraper (not the cheap flimsy type) after soaking it through with a steamer, and I mean soaking the hell out of it, it needs to be saturated to the point of dripping. You'll find the artex peels off this way and there is almost no dust at all. It's a very labour intensive process will take you weeks if the whole house is covered but worth it in the long run IMO.

Don't sand it for christ sake

Easier option is to remove the plasterboard entirely and re-board, probably your best bet