Artex ceiling removal: what are your options?

Why testing comes first

Artex is a brand name that became shorthand for all textured ceiling coatings. Some older textured coatings included a small amount of asbestos, and disturbing them can release fibres. Left alone and in good condition, they are generally considered low risk. The risk comes from sanding, scraping or cutting into them.

A sample can be taken and sent to an accredited laboratory, and the result tells you how the ceiling can be handled. If the coating does contain asbestos, removal is specialist work for a licensed or suitably trained contractor, while skimming over it encapsulates the texture without disturbing it. This guide does not replace that testing, it explains what happens after it.

Skimming over artex

Skimming over a textured ceiling means sealing the surface, knocking back only the sharpest peaks where the test result allows it, and applying plaster in coats to fill the pattern and leave a flat finish. Deep patterns may need a bonding coat first to bring the surface level before the final skim.

Done properly, the result is a smooth ceiling ready for painting, with no dust from stripping and no need to take the ceiling down. It is the approach Martin's plastering work is built around: careful preparation of the surface so the final coat goes on evenly and stays put.

• Ceiling cleaned and sealed so new plaster bonds to the texture
• Peaks reduced only where it is safe to do so
• Filling coats where the pattern is deep
• Final skim trowelled to a flat, paint ready finish

When removing the ceiling is the better choice

Some ceilings are not worth saving. Old lath and plaster that has come away from the joists, boards that sag between fixings, long cracks that keep returning or staining from a past leak all suggest the whole ceiling needs replacing. In those cases, skimming would only hide a problem that comes back.

Replacement means taking the old ceiling down, fixing new plasterboard and then skimming it. Where the artex tested positive, the strip out stage must be carried out by a contractor qualified for that work before the new ceiling goes up. It is more disruptive than a skim, but it gives you a sound ceiling for years ahead.

Artex in bathrooms

Textured bathroom ceilings are common in homes from the 1970s and 1980s, and they cause their own problems. The ridges hold condensation and collect mould spots that are hard to clean. If you are planning a new bathroom, the ceiling is the right time to deal with this, before new tiles and fittings go in below it.

A bathroom ceiling that is skimmed should be finished with a paint suited to humid rooms, and the room needs proper extraction so moisture does not settle on the new surface. If the bathroom is being fully renovated, the ceiling work is planned into the same sequence as the plumbing, tiling and fitting.

What drives the cost

There is no single price for artex work, because the job varies a lot from room to room. The main factors are the test result, the depth of the pattern, the size and height of the ceiling, whether coving or lights need taking down, and whether the ceiling can be skimmed or needs replacing. Access and how much furniture stays in the room also play a part.

M24/7 quotes after seeing the ceiling, so the written quotation reflects your room rather than a guess. Our guide to plasterer pricing explains the wider factors in more detail.