Artex and electrics

Pinkangel

Hello

Hopefully I'm posting this in the correct place...

My husband and I have been to view a house that we really like, built in 1972, which has Artex on all of the ceilings. We suspect the Artex contains asbestos given the age of the property and the fact that some old soffits removed from the property 10 years ago also contained asbestos.

I know that the Artex shouldn't be an issue if it's left alone, but the problem is we'd want to have the electrics updated (possible rewire and spotlights). At the moment it's the original fusebox, only one plug socket in each room, and an old flourescent tube light on the kitchen ceiling.

So what I'm wondering is - would the presence of Artex on all ceilings cause issues for having the electrics updated (if it did turn out to contain asbestos)?

Any advice or wisdom would be greatly appreciated

Risteard

Of course it would be an issue if it is liable to be disturbed.

Peter-W_2

It's a very good idea to update the electrics, certainly if they are as old as yours say. A modern consumer unit offers so much more protection than an old fuse box too.

Most electricians should be aware of the dangers of asbestos and know how to handle it and work round it. It's one of the biggest hazards they face. You should be able to rewire the house without disturbing the ceilings in most cases, the carpets and floorboards upstairs will have to come up to achieve it, though I'm guessing you're already prepared for a fair bit of upheaval.

With regards the kitchen strip light, to swap for spots you might need to lower the ceiling, putting a new one a few inches below the old one and sinking the new lights into that, leaving the old ceiling in place above it. If you're already thinking of boarding over and replastering the artex ceilings this won't cost much more at all.

Risteard

Peter-W wrote: »

You should be able to rewire the house without disturbing the ceilings in most cases

Generally luminaires are attached to the ceiling. How do you propose that they (and the wiring to them) could be replaced without disturbing the ceiling?

Removing screws holiding old luminaires and inserting new screws, as well as removing wiring and replacing it will cause disturbance of the ceiling. We are talking about tiny dust particles after all, which are likely to become airborne. Therefore PROPER measures need to be taken as outlined by the HSE.

Pinkangel

Thanks for the feedback! After a few days of Googling I am even more confused, as there's so much conflicting advice. The electrics are the thing throwing a spanner in the works. If they didn't need updating then I'd be thinking we'd just leave the Artex well alone for now, and then as and when we had the money we would look at getting the ceilings boarded over and skimmed. What doesn't help is that I'm not really sure what a rewire involves, and how much access to ceilings is needed. Hmmm.

brightontraveller

Asbestos artex is a pain... For rewire and down lights specifically you’d be best to get artex tested (even if not i'd get it tested ) find out what construction of ceilings/walls etc are If lathes plaster s etc although there are ways to put down lights/sockets etc in lathe with asbestos its a lot of fuffing around generally involves ceilings/walls being re skimmed and often doesn’t produce a very good finish... Amount of disruption in a rewire depends on routing, joist sizes, direction, floor construction, fittings type and number etc Often the best solutions remove all Asbestos re-board/plaster etc but that’s often not cheap…?

Davesnave

I wonder how many people in the UK have had their houses re-wired, or have altered ceilings/lighting without any regard to their Artex.

The answer has got to be in the millions.

PheoUK

A) you can get it tested b) whats the floor surface above? most of the work is done from there, so realistically, its unlikely to be a huge problem (but you might want to rethink the down lights!)