Artex Nightmare. Help???

George_Bray

becs wrote: »

most artex if it was done before 1999 will contain asbestos. I know this because I work for an insurance company and they always test it before doing any work. The majority before this date do contain asbestos so i personally would not touch it, it's not worth the risk.

Umm, I'm not convinced. There are dates all over the Internet which look like they come from people who should know what they're talking about and one might have some faith in, e.g. Daily Telegraph, Channel4 DIY expert, etc, etc. Plus H&S Government findings that Artex may not be so bad.

But the dates given vary enormously for when asbestos was ruled out, from "mid 1970s" to (mostly) mid-1980s to your much later date of 1999. It's difficult to know who to believe so I err on the side of financial caution (anti rip-off measures) and assume mid-1980s.

There's a web site where they expose the scandal which involves insurance companies and others climbing on the bandwagon of asbestos fears. There's no way I'd shell out £hundreds or £thousands to have the theatrics of 'experts' coming in here donned in chemical protection suits with special vacuum cleaners which cost £250 a day to hire, just to remove artex.

becs

Each to their own Geaorge_Bray. I know where you're coming from and to a certain extent I do agree, however everyone seems to agree that there is a possibility of the artex containing asbestos and this being the case I personally would not risk my health. I guess it's what price you value your health at in the end. Does anyone really know the true risks? I would tend to agreee that they're probably not as extreme as the men in white suits make out but I certainly wouldn't recommend taking a sander to it!

George_Bray

Becs

Did you see the Telegraph article I linked to, above?

It says:
"tests by the offical (Government) Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) ... showed that the quantities of white asbestos chemically bonded in Artex used on walls and ceilings are so insignificant that they pose no measurable risk to health."

When I think of other dusts and powders I've breathed in (in small quantities) over the years, is this least-harmful type of asbestos much to worry about even if it was present in my house? I'm thinking of cement or plaster powder which hits the air when you pour it out sometimes, or the dust from sanding old house paint or car bodywork. The body must get rid of dust from the lungs, somehow.

ciarasdreams

I do not know if this will be of any help to you at all but when my sister moved into her current house last year it was also covered in the stuff on every wall and ceiling surface. She got various plasterers in to give quotes for covering it all over but all bar one of them told her that thetreads in the artex were too deep and that if you put plaster over the top of it then just the weight of it alone would pull the artex off of the walls along with the plaster. One of them suggested that she bought a special preparation called ex tex which actually looked like a royal blue paste type of substance because this is apparently what the professionals use to remove it. It is quite expensive to buy I think it was around £90.00 for twenty litres and she needed a few tubs but her house is absolutely huge and most people would not need nearly so much. I think that it cost her under £500.00 to completely strip it from five bedrooms and two bathrooms and a kitchen and a dining room and a study and the hallway and two other public rooms so it really is quite cost effective but it is also messy and time consuming.

ormus

George_Bray wrote: »

When I think of other dusts and powders I've breathed in (in small quantities) over the years, is this least-harmful type of asbestos much to worry about even if it was present in my house? I'm thinking of cement or plaster powder which hits the air when you pour it out sometimes, or the dust from sanding old house paint or car bodywork. The body must get rid of dust from the lungs, somehow.

i agree entirely.
when i think of all the stuff ive breathed in over the yrs, a bit of artex dust is prob the least of my problems.
driving down the M6/M1 a few hundred times, must have more damage to me lungs.
and god help anyone who lives near a chemical works.

piglet29

we removed the artex from our largish kitchen walls a few years ago, couldnt plaster over because we wanted to keep the tiles and would have looked odd with the plaster level with the top of the tiles instead of the tiles proud of the walls!!! (if you know what i mean?????) It took us about a week of steaming, scraping, sanding (with masks cos of the dust which was horrible) and then finally filling and re-sanding, but OMG was it worth it when it was finsihed it looked lovely and we were so releaved not to have any artex anymore.!! It is a terrible job but so worthwhile when it is done, good luck if you do decide to do it and remember to have all your windows open when you do it because the dust is terrible, we had a job to see at times!!!! and keep doors to other rooms shut as the dust travels everywhere!!:rolleyes:

robv_3

plaster boarding over the top and a quick skim gives the best results IMHO