Artex ceilings !

[Sara_toga]

We unfortunately have artex on our ceilings and having just taken down a wall between two rooms which had left us with the wall width with no artex.

We are not sure if we should put up new plasterboard or someone suggested a stretch ceiling which we have no knowledge about.

Has anyone got a stretch ceiling and if so are you happy with it?

[Macca04]

Don’t know about a stretched ceiling but we have just removed our artex ceiling as the plasterer said it had to be taken back to the joists before plaster board could be put up. It was a right mess.

[chrisxal]

My main concern is artex contains asbestos and once 'disturbed' becomes toxic so should be treated with great caution.

[Lisa123wm]

Originally Posted by chrisxal

My main concern is artex contains asbestos and once 'disturbed' becomes toxic so should be treated with great caution.

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Not all artex contains asbestos.
We had it in our last house and had it tested before we removed it. There was no asbestos.

[HevaDuck]

Our plasterer put new boards over our artex and plastered that without any problems

[Mr Tom Morrow]

OP. A stretched ceiling is commonly called a suspended ceiling.

Lots of myths about Artex containing asbestos but 99% of them don't. It was only used in the very early ones. However to be safe you can get a small area tested.

Ripping down ceilings is messy! But it produces a better result than boarding over what is already there as the high points on the existing Artex make the new boards uneven.

The quickest and cleanest way to deal with your issue is to reboard the bit where the wall was with a small piece of plasterboard. Then a Plasterer seals the whole ceiling with Unibond thinned down and skims the lot. Quick job and cheaper.

My house was built in 1948 and had the very first plasterboard produced. They were then plastered. However at some stage they were Artexed so I have ripped them down and re boarded. Dear God the mess!

The last one was done this year and it had to come down as I wanted 9 spot lights installed. This is what you end up with before commencing the new bit.

[BucksBugsy]

I guess we were just unlucky then

[Bellasmummy]

We just had ours skimmed. Perfect finish although our artex wasn’t particularly deep (not sure of the proper term ) so I suppose that helped.

[Floridatilly]

Depending on how old your property is there is little chance if asbestos if it is newish as it was against the law after a certain year.
Our property is 20 years old and has no asbestos.
We got rid of all the artex down stairs years ago and got rid of it from our bedroom a few weeks ago.
My husband sprayed it with warm water, left it a minute or two then scraped it off. When it was all clear his plastering friend skimmed it 👍🏻
Very messy job but cheap and well worth it.

[Blue nose]

Even to nail in new plasterboard into it you should do an asbestos test as nailing into it could've dangerous as you're not allowed to disturb it. You should probably test before covering it too so you're not hiding asbestos from future owners.

Personally I'd have it tested to be sure and then skim over.