Artex, love it, hate it?

tommie1shunt

Yes our cielings have it. We have been in been looking at buying our new to us house for a few months, and everyone seems to have a downer on it, at best neutral and most would seem to hate it in varying degrees.
We don,t mind it, not keen on big rustic lumps on walls, but the dappled/low key type of artex is OK and we think can be quite nice.
On the flip-side we don,t like wallpaper, seems to fussy, and crowds smaller rooms. To be honest if we had the choice it would be Magnolia all the way thru the house!!!!

moneypuddle

Can bear it on the ceiling if it's not too horrendous but it would have to come off the Walls. Why not have rooms replastered or use lining paper to get a smoother look?

Barneysmom

We've got it on the ceiling in this room but it doesn't bother me, I just take no notice.
I wouldn't like it on the walls either, it reminds me of a pub

moneypuddle

Me too. My bathroom looks like a pub

Barneysmom

Superb! Have a glass of something nice while taking a bath

moneypuddle

I do, regularly :beer:

Davesnave

It is very typical of houses from the 70s/80s and comes as standard in a stippled effect, but in certain parts of the UK, notably Wales, it's been developed almost into an art form. Of course, what constitutes art or good taste is open to debate.

It's possible to get artex skimmed over with a smooth plaster finish, but nobody should attempt to sand it down, since asbestos was a small part of the product. It's perfectly safe if left alone.

Only the arty sort is likely to reduce the appeal of a property.

tommie1shunt

Yep, we got the stippled affect, did not know it contains asbestos or was supposed to be arty, we thought it just covered dodgy plasterwork up!!!

go_cat

We have it but its not that shell pattern thank goodness its just random and our house is only 11 years old

tanith

We have it on all the ceilings except hall and bathroom , random stipple, I don't like it but its just too big a mess to have all the ceilings skimmed.. so its just painted white and after a while you forget its there..

vax2002

Yes it contains asbestos up to the early 90's, hence why most want rid of it before buying a house.
Old artex needs to be encapsulated (skimmed over) you have a duty of care to tell any new owners you have done so so they can take precautions when drilling.
Its usually white asbestos, so you don't need a licence to work on it in your own home, just follow the HSE advice to the letter. Which is plaster over the damn stuff.