Removing polystyrene ceiling tiles

lilyb_2

Please can anyone offer advice?

We're soon to move into our new home, which was built in the 1930s and looks as if it was last loved in the 1970s. Every ceiling is clad in polystyrene tiles. They've all got to go! Any tips gratefully received.

Thank you

AHAR

I had these in my living room when I moved in. They came down very easily (they had already started to sag down in places).
My tips would be:
1. prepare for quite a lot of mess - a lot of flaky paint came down from the ceiling along with the tiles.
2. Don't expect the ceiling to look pretty behind those tiles. The ceiling must have been pretty bad if polystyrene tiles seemed like a better option...

djohn2002uk

You need nothing more than a normal wallpaper scraper and they will come off easily. AHAR is correct when he says that any emultion or distemper that they used years ago will come off too but leaving some behind. This you will need to scrape off too, to leave a nice smooth finish to cover with your own choice of pain, or if the ceilings are in a poor state you may have to think about Artex or having them skimmed. Either way you need a nice clean surface and when you easily lift the tiles off you'll be half way there.

oramgepekoe

When we removed them from the landing of our 1930s house we found the ceiling badly cracked, so had to have it skimmed.

samh_2

We had these too - yuck! The tiles came off easily, but it was much more difficult to get the adhesive off the ceiling. Using a wallpaper stripper and a wallpaper scraper worked best, but if you don't have a stripper acetone (found in nailpolish remover) also worked well - apply to the adhesive with a sponge then use scraper to scrape it off.

A good tip someone gave us was to lay out sheets so that the whole area was covered, then once we'd finished we bundled up the sheets and gave them a good shake over skips at the tip - it certainly cut down on the clearing up!

Like others have said, the tiles were there to hide the poor state of the ceiling underneath! We had some skimmed, others we papered with a textured paper.

HugoSP

Leave them alone.

In 10 years time they'll be in fashion again

djohn2002uk

HugoSP wrote:

Leave them alone.

In 10 years time they'll be in fashion again

But an extreme fire hazard.:eek:

worriedfirsttimebuyer

I thought they were illegal.

cheltonian

I have a refurbishment job coming up, which involves dealing with these tiles. If you are going to get it skimmed by a builder, sometimes it is easier to overboard the tiles with 12.5mm plasterboard and skim. Less time, less fuss

pretygirl

I was registered at your forum. I have printed the test message. Do not delete, please.