Hallway dilemma

Sekekama

Handymen (who are plastering/skimming my bathroom and second bedroom) and sorting my landing floorboards out for me to let damp subfloor breathe. (Above 3-4 day job)

They took hallway plasterboard off (it was weakening). My dad thought hallway looks better open so I told handymen to take it off and not replace. 

However, now I've realised the previously covered layer is blue artex or wallpaper? And hallway artex is white. 

What would be the best solution here?

I paint over the blue artex and hopefully it make it white? Or I get the handymen to also skim entire hallway?

There's also some cracks in the artex which hopefully they can sort or I polyfilla. 

So far my costs including materials roughly £1,100

gwynlas

It looks as though there was previously a dropped ceiling over the staircase void. If you want to restore the area you need to have it the wood stripped out the ceiling and walls skimmed or papered before painting in a colour of your choice. It is unclear to me whether you have woodchip and textured wallpaper or whether it is a light coat of artex

travis-powers

Artex on walls is a real dust trap, so in an ideal world I think your best solution would be to scrape the top off asbestos awareness kicks in here, blue grit or similar and plaster however you have to look as to why it was artexed in the first place is the plaster in a bad way underneath?
 The ceiling looks like a paper finish.
 Another thing to think about is do you want a big void above your stairs, you’ll be heating a a big area with no gain and it would be a nightmare to decorate in the future?
 I personally would be swapping the batton for 2x2 insulation and plasterboard but that’s your choice 

casper_gutman

It's generally a bad idea to have a great big unventilated void inside a building. As I understand it, a space should either be heated, as this space is now, or ventilated, like most lofts are (or better still both). If you close in a volume so that it is unheated and unventilated - which this ceiling void was as far as I can see - then you're asking for damp issues. I suppose it will previously have been somewhat heated if the ceiling was uninsulated, but I'd be wary that 'improving' things by insulating a reinstated ceiling could cause issues down the line if the void is left 'stagnant' as it were. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

travis-powers said:

 I personally would be swapping the batton for 2x2 insulation and plasterboard but that’s your choice 

Whilst it may currently feel good to have the area open that will fade over time especially given the stairs isn't a place you spend much time. 

As above I'd put it back with some insulation and look at a way for the enclosed void to have a bit of air flow as well.