Hi,
I am not a plasterer, but looking for advice.
I arranged for a plasterer to come to skim over all the artex walls in my hall, stairs & landing.
He started by removing the coving. Then he applied a blue grit bonding agent. Then he noticed that the artex was loose in places and started scraping away these loose bits. After he scraped away a section about 1m squared he said that too much of it is too loose and he wasn't comfortable skimming over it for fear of the plaster coming down along with the artex at some later date. Fair enough.
He also said he wasn't willing to scrape it all off, seeing as it is a big area, and that the artex may contain asbestos. He wanted me to get it tested for asbestos first. So I did, and the result came back positive for chrysolite (white asbestos). So he's not willing to do the job. Fair enough.
He's recommended either a) getting a specialist asbestos removal company in to stip the walls, or b) getting an artexer in to apply a new artex coat!
Option a): I got a quote. £3000. They were good about it and said that the asbestos content is small in artex and is of the least dangerous type, and that there's no significant risk to us as the wall currently is, but even so that we should get it sorted as soon as possible.
Option b): I really don't want to re-artex but if it's the only option beyond forking out £3000 on getting the current stuff removed, then so be it. But I don't really understand why artex on top of peeling artex would be any better plaster on top of artex. The plasterer said it would be ok as, unlike with plastering, there's no water involved.
Just leaving as is isn't an option as it's a mess (some areas covered with the bonding agent, some areas scraped away).
Questions for you:
Anyone with experience of this kind of dilemma? Any standard practice?
Can anyone confirm whether or not option b) would work? Would the artex still peel away?
Can anyone suggest another option?
There was a large section (about 1 m squared) he scraped away - see photo below - but most of the edge of this section seems now to me to be quite firm. Most of the loose stuff was at the top where he'd removed the coving. I wonder whether, rightly or wrongly, a different plasterer would have continued, just scraping away the worst sections. Behind the artex layer there is a lime render (I think that's what he called it) that seems stable (see photo below of edge of artex layer with lime render below).
Thanks in advance for any help.
I am not a plasterer, but looking for advice.
I arranged for a plasterer to come to skim over all the artex walls in my hall, stairs & landing.
He started by removing the coving. Then he applied a blue grit bonding agent. Then he noticed that the artex was loose in places and started scraping away these loose bits. After he scraped away a section about 1m squared he said that too much of it is too loose and he wasn't comfortable skimming over it for fear of the plaster coming down along with the artex at some later date. Fair enough.
He also said he wasn't willing to scrape it all off, seeing as it is a big area, and that the artex may contain asbestos. He wanted me to get it tested for asbestos first. So I did, and the result came back positive for chrysolite (white asbestos). So he's not willing to do the job. Fair enough.
He's recommended either a) getting a specialist asbestos removal company in to stip the walls, or b) getting an artexer in to apply a new artex coat!
Option a): I got a quote. £3000. They were good about it and said that the asbestos content is small in artex and is of the least dangerous type, and that there's no significant risk to us as the wall currently is, but even so that we should get it sorted as soon as possible.
Option b): I really don't want to re-artex but if it's the only option beyond forking out £3000 on getting the current stuff removed, then so be it. But I don't really understand why artex on top of peeling artex would be any better plaster on top of artex. The plasterer said it would be ok as, unlike with plastering, there's no water involved.
Just leaving as is isn't an option as it's a mess (some areas covered with the bonding agent, some areas scraped away).
Questions for you:
Anyone with experience of this kind of dilemma? Any standard practice?
Can anyone confirm whether or not option b) would work? Would the artex still peel away?
Can anyone suggest another option?
There was a large section (about 1 m squared) he scraped away - see photo below - but most of the edge of this section seems now to me to be quite firm. Most of the loose stuff was at the top where he'd removed the coving. I wonder whether, rightly or wrongly, a different plasterer would have continued, just scraping away the worst sections. Behind the artex layer there is a lime render (I think that's what he called it) that seems stable (see photo below of edge of artex layer with lime render below).
Thanks in advance for any help.
