Quote for sorting out artex ceiling?

PrincessJR

Hi

Our lounge is 275ft sq (25'2 x 11'3) - old money sorry I'm not much good with metres! and we need the ceiling sorting out. It currently has artex, which isn't too bad as artex goes but we'd still prefer a nice smooth matt finish.

What would a professional do to achieve this? Do they simply skim over it or pull it down, re-board, plaster and paint?

Most importantly, how much are we talking?
thanks

DRP

probably the easiest, cheapest way is to overboard it then skim.

Sorry, not idea what it would cost - i've only had it done as part of much bigger renovation works.

Risteard

Probably depend on whether the Artex you have is an ACM or not.

PrincessJR

Risteard wrote: »

Probably depend on whether the Artex you have is an ACM or not.

Thanks. What is ACM?

Furts

The easiest way is to scim over, but if you have coving this becomes an issue, so you may end up with reboarding.

The scim depends on the pattern - how deep is the Artex, and how true is the ceiling? A neighbour has just had ceilings done and it took three scims to get it right - and time is money.

The flip side of this is there are retired, and semi retired plasters around me working for ridiculously low rates of pay doing this type of work just for social contact and beer/luxuries money. Their quality is variable which I spot from a mile off, but for most people it is acceptable. Some are only charging an absurd £50 for a ceiling in a typical room.

Davesnave

PrincessJR wrote: »

Thanks. What is ACM?

An unhelpful TLA!

Asbestos containing material.

Much artex contains asbestos in varying amounts. It can be tested for around £30 if you are interested to find out. Many builders/ plasterers won't bother about this, and if you are going to board over or skim, you might not either. The risk is only there if it's disturbed or drilled.

It depends a lot on the individuals concerned.

PrincessJR

Davesnave wrote: »

An unhelpful TLA!

Asbestos containing material.

Much artex contains asbestos in varying amounts. It can be tested for around £30 if you are interested to find out. Many builders/ plasterers won't bother about this, and if you are going to board over or skim, you might not either. The risk is only there if it's disturbed or drilled.

It depends a lot on the individuals concerned.

Ahh! thank you

We are getting a full building survey done by a chartered surveyor next week I wonder if this would be flagged up during his survey? The ceiling to be done is directly below a bedroom which requires a replacement floorboard so I dare say drilling will be involved above so probably best to get the asbestos situation checked out.

Davesnave

The surveyor won't know any more about the asbestos risk than you or I, but they'll flag it up as a matter of course.

The room above's floor is possibly irrelevant; it's how much drilling into the ceiling will be needed. Boarding over with new plasterboard won't involve drilling, just driving screws directly.

FreeBear

In the process of getting rid of artex myself, so am aware of a few of the problems...

If the artex is over a soft, powdery, or loose surface, it will peel off - Not good if you skim over as you will get lumps of plaster falling down in time. If the ceiling has cracks in it that are showing through the artex, they will eventually propagate through any fresh plaster.

If your ceiling is fairly modern (i.e. plasterboard) without any cracks in it, you could apply a thin & smooth coat of artex over the top.

If, like me, you have a plaster & lath ceiling that had been lime washed, is cracking, and at risk of collapse, then complete removal & replacement may be the best option.

PrincessJR

Thanks very much.

The ceiling itself seems in pretty good condition (at least to the untrained eye!). At a guess I would say it was done in the 1970s and it quite a subtle pattern (not deep like some older artex).

Here is a pic: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2zgRHWhXV0Xa2ZsZ1oxdmZxUEk/view?usp=sharing

FreeBear

Skim with plaster - Shouldn't cost more than £200 getting a professional in to do it.