Artex was originally extremely popular in the 1960s and 1970s throughout the UK as a decorative coat for walls and ceilings, most typically used to create beautiful peaks on ceilings.
Why is it less frequently used?
However, several Artex products have been withdrawn from the market due to the presence of a dangerous chemical called asbestos in the original product.
Asbestos can cause serious lung and repository damage if inhaled; as a result, it has been nearly completely phased out of UK homes.
However, some homes and buildings still contain the now-discontinued Artex substance on the ceilings and walls, which must be removed for a variety of reasons, ranging from health and safety problems to aesthetic considerations such as cracking or flaking.
Taking down the ceiling artex
Thus, what are the available options for removing Artex?
There are two ways to manage Artex and ensure its safety. The first option is to totally remove the Artex from the walls to confirm that asbestos is not present in your home. However, this can be costly and time-consuming.
The second alternative is an Artex coating and seal, which will smooth over the Artex substance, resulting in new walls. However, this is only a possibility if the Artex does not contain asbestos, as determined by an Artex Sample Survey.
Take a look at the table below for an idea of the average duration and expenditure.
Prices for Artex Removal:
What factors can affect the total cost of Artex removal?
These prices do, however, change according to a few criteria. Naturally, the larger the Artex surface area, the longer and more expensive the job, so keep this in mind if you have vast patches of Artex.
Additionally, examine your home’s location, as certain sections of the country pay more for tradespeople than others, owing primarily to population density and the cost of life in certain places.
For example, rates in Glasgow and Edinburgh are likely to be higher than in small towns and villages.
The next sections will go deeper into the supplier costs, tradesman costs, and any other charges that contribute to your overall Artex removal cost.
How much will it cost to remove Artex from the supply chain?
To either remove or seal and coat your Artex ceilings or walls, tradespeople will require certain equipment and supplies.
Typically, steaming, scraping, and cleaning tools are required to remove Artex surfaces, as well as robust garbage sacks to safely dispose of the removed Artex.
Now, depending on which of the two possible methods of coating and sealing Artex you choose, different supplies will be required.
The first step is to board over the Artex ceiling or walls with plasterboard, which is then covered in numerous layers of plaster to achieve a flat surface.
A man demolishes a wall artex.
The second method is to seal the Artex surface with PVA before plastering over it for a smooth finish.
Now, the contractor you hire to do the operation, whether it’s a removal or a sealing, will gladly make any necessary purchases on your behalf.
However, you can frequently save money by shopping around for it yourself, simply because the contractor will have less time to look for specials and special offers.
It’s essential to chat with them first to ascertain what supplies the craftsman will require and to solicit their opinion on specific products if needed.
To highlight the costs connected with supplies only, we’ve included a table below that details the various supply costs.
What Are the Additional Costs Associated with Artex Removal?
The following is a list of some of the additional costs associated with removing Artex:
A Sample Survey of Artex
An Artex Sample Survey is conducted to determine whether the artex in your home contains asbestos.
This survey costs £200 in total, but depending on a few circumstances, it may not be necessary.
For starters, if your artex was installed before 1985, it almost certainly contains asbestos and must be completely removed; thus, the survey is largely unnecessary.
If your Artex was put in use after 1985, there is a good likelihood that it contains asbestos. However, it may not, in which case you may wish to have a sample tested to determine if the ceilings or walls can be coated and sealed instead.
Naturally, the Artex Sample Survey is in place for everyone’s health and safety, and you should not seal or coat Artex walls or ceilings without first screening for dangerous elements, since the consequences could be fatal.
If the £200 charge for the survey does not fit your budget, you can get online testing kits for roughly £30 per kit. While these kits do not provide the same level of accuracy as professional testing, they are still better than no test at all!
Decorating
After removing or sealing and coating your Artex walls, you may like to give your area a fresh lease of life by decorating.
A fresh coat of paint and some new wallpaper may completely transform your area, and the old Artex will become a distant memory.
Removal of white artex
It’s not prohibitively expensive to have your rooms professionally decorated, with a standard 13-foot by 10-foot room costing between £150 and £200 to decorate, depending on your location.
Decoration takes around two days, and with the addition of a few new fixtures and accessories, your space will be transformed totally overnight.
Of course, these rates vary according to the size and intricacy of your rooms, but if you’re looking to decorate your entire home, there are some excellent savings to be had.
Cost Disparities by Region
Throughout this book, we’ve noted that the cost of trade employment varies according to your location in the United Kingdom.
Large cities such as London and Edinburgh naturally draw higher payments because of their locations’ high cost of living and population density, which provide more consumers for craftsmen.
In basic terms, tradespeople are in great demand in those locations and so they charge slightly more.
On the other hand, in smaller towns and villages, there are fewer clients and more competition among labourers to maintain competitive prices in order to acquire jobs.
This is standard across all industries, and those who reside in these locations are unlikely to be aware of any differences.
In the following part, we’ll look at the labour costs associated with Artex removal in greater detail.
The cost of artex removal by a tradesperson
Artex removal takes significantly longer than sealing or covering Artex, mostly due to the additional care required for health and safety.
It is far more difficult to entirely eliminate the Artex ingredient. Naturally, once the Artex is gone, it’s a matter of smoothing the surfaces with plaster, which adds time to the job’s duration.
A typical tradesperson may charge between £150 and £250 per labourer per day.This implies that if the job is extremely difficult due to the size or layout of your rooms, they may need to operate as a two-person team rather than as a single individual. This will become clearer once the contractors have quoted the project.
In the next part, we’ll examine the time required to remove or seal and coat Artex ceilings and walls, which will help you determine how much you’re likely to pay contractors to do this project.
Of course, keep in mind the points we’ve made about your home’s location and the effect that can have on contractor costs.
A reasonable rule of thumb is to use the top end of the cost scale for major cities such as London and the bottom end for more rural regions, with anything in between being closer to the national average.
How Long Does Artex Removal Take?
The time required to remove Artex varies considerably, ranging from a few hours to the better part of a week, and is entirely dependent on several time-related factors.
The first obvious aspect is the size of the area that needs artex removal.
A tiny box room will take a few hours to a day to complete, while an entire home can take far longer, perhaps up to a week.
This will, of course, affect the pricing as well, and is something that the contractor will be able to inform you of throughout the quoting process.
Another element that affects the amount of time required is the quality of the Artex, as it is much easier to remove Artex that is already cracked, flaking, and showing signs of wear.
By comparison, any Artex that is still adhered to the surface would take far longer to remove. The clean-up process following Artex removal can take quite a while, as the room can become rather dusty and untidy, which the contractor wants cleansed completely and all artex bagged away before leaving.
Coating and sealing Artex ceilings and walls is now significantly faster, regardless of the technique employed. Scraping and chiselling away at the Artex is a time-and energy-consuming process; therefore, it is more cost-effective to use the coat and seal method whenever possible.
This process takes a few hours per surface, but the larger the surface area, the longer it will take, and if you’re concealing the Artex with plasterboard, any complexly shaped rooms will take even longer.
Artex Removal Methods:
Here are several methods for removing Artex:
Artex Scrapping Price
The first method of Artex removal is full removal by whatever means necessary.
The two most common procedures are heating to soften the substance and make it simpler to scrape off, and straight-up chiselling and scraping.
This is the sole method for removing asbestos from Artex, and the likelihood is that your Artex does contain asbestos.
If in doubt, it’s advisable to test a sample using either the Artex Sample Survey test, which costs £200, or a home testing kit, which costs roughly £50 and is accessible online.
You should not coat or seal Artex unless you are certain it is absolutely free of asbestos, as the effects could be severe.
The Cost of Artex Chemical Removal
Rather than heating and scraping, you can purchase chemicals that will degrade the Artex and make it simpler to scrape from the walls. This is referred to as X-TEX, and it has grown in popularity.
A man is removing a substance called artex.
Due to the fact that it is water-based, non-toxic, and non-flammable, despite the fact that it is a chemical, it is a highly safe solution. Simply use a paintbrush to liberally apply the X-TEX to the walls, wait for it to release the Artex, and then scrape it away effortlessly.
Additionally, it eliminates the danger of asbestos particles entering the atmosphere of your home.
The Cost of Sealing and Coating Plasterboard
If your Artex does not contain asbestos after a sample is taken, you can seal and coat it instead to create a smooth, clean surface.
There are two solutions to this. The first step is to seal and coat the plasterboard. This is the area where plasterboard is fastened in place over the artex and plastered in place.
The plasterboard is then covered with plaster to create a delightfully smooth surface that is ready to be decorated in any style desired.
The Cost of Plaster Sealing and Coating
This method of covering and sealing the surface entails applying multiple layers of plaster until the newly plastered surface is perfectly smooth and free of imperfections.
This is the most frequently used method of coating and sealing Artex, as it does not require large amounts of plasterboard to be fitted into the home.
Additionally, it is much faster, allowing the artisan to complete several rooms in rapid succession. Prior to applying any plaster to the Artex, a coating of PVA will be applied to act as a sealer and provide a surface for the plaster to adhere to.
FAQs
How can I cover an Artex wall without plastering it?
A: Plasterboard pieces can be used to cover and seal an Artex surface and then plastered over, obviating the requirement to plaster over the Artex itself.
This is a popular approach for coating and sealing Artex surfaces, and if this is the method you wish to use, inform your contractor immediately.
What is the most effective method for removing Artex?
A: In recent years, X-TEX has become the preferred method for removing Artex, as the wet chemical material makes scraping the Artex easier and safer, as it prevents any asbestos particles from being sucked into the room’s air.
A 2.5L tub of X-TEX can be purchased at any respectable DIY store and will easily cover a large surface of Artex.
Is it possible to remove Artex on your own?
A: Artex must be eliminated because it was frequently used in conjunction with asbestos. Asbestos is a hazardous material that can cause lung and repository diseases, so it is recommended to leave this task to professionals.
Contractors will almost certainly wear personal protective equipment when removing or working with Artex surfaces, as asbestos has a tendency to break down into a very fine powder and hang in the air, which can be hazardous if inhaled.
Is it now illegal to use Artex?
A: Artex is still widely available at DIY stores, and while it has fallen out of favour in favour of other drugs, it is now safe to use.
This is because asbestos has been prohibited in Artex since 1985, and any new Artex acquired after that date will be absolutely safe to use.
Why was asbestos used in the manufacture of Artex?
A: Asbestos was used in conjunction with Artex as a strengthening agent to ensure the strength of the Artex once it had dried and set on ceilings and walls.
While this made Artex an extremely durable material for use in residential construction, it proved damaging to people’s health when asbestos broke free and was released into the air.
Artex Removal Guide
How Much Does Artex Removal Cost?
When did Artex achieve widespread popularity?
Artex was originally extremely popular in the 1960s and 1970s throughout the UK as a decorative coat for walls and ceilings, most typically used to create beautiful peaks on ceilings.
Why is it less frequently used?
However, several Artex products have been withdrawn from the market due to the presence of a dangerous chemical called asbestos in the original product.
Asbestos can cause serious lung and repository damage if inhaled; as a result, it has been nearly completely phased out of UK homes.
However, some homes and buildings still contain the now-discontinued Artex substance on the ceilings and walls, which must be removed for a variety of reasons, ranging from health and safety problems to aesthetic considerations such as cracking or flaking.
Taking down the ceiling artex
Thus, what are the available options for removing Artex?
There are two ways to manage Artex and ensure its safety. The first option is to totally remove the Artex from the walls to confirm that asbestos is not present in your home. However, this can be costly and time-consuming.
The second alternative is an Artex coating and seal, which will smooth over the Artex substance, resulting in new walls. However, this is only a possibility if the Artex does not contain asbestos, as determined by an Artex Sample Survey.
Take a look at the table below for an idea of the average duration and expenditure.
Prices for Artex Removal:
What factors can affect the total cost of Artex removal?
These prices do, however, change according to a few criteria. Naturally, the larger the Artex surface area, the longer and more expensive the job, so keep this in mind if you have vast patches of Artex.
Additionally, examine your home’s location, as certain sections of the country pay more for tradespeople than others, owing primarily to population density and the cost of life in certain places.
For example, rates in Glasgow and Edinburgh are likely to be higher than in small towns and villages.
The next sections will go deeper into the supplier costs, tradesman costs, and any other charges that contribute to your overall Artex removal cost.
How much will it cost to remove Artex from the supply chain?
To either remove or seal and coat your Artex ceilings or walls, tradespeople will require certain equipment and supplies.
Typically, steaming, scraping, and cleaning tools are required to remove Artex surfaces, as well as robust garbage sacks to safely dispose of the removed Artex.
Now, depending on which of the two possible methods of coating and sealing Artex you choose, different supplies will be required.
The first step is to board over the Artex ceiling or walls with plasterboard, which is then covered in numerous layers of plaster to achieve a flat surface.
A man demolishes a wall artex.
The second method is to seal the Artex surface with PVA before plastering over it for a smooth finish.
Now, the contractor you hire to do the operation, whether it’s a removal or a sealing, will gladly make any necessary purchases on your behalf.
However, you can frequently save money by shopping around for it yourself, simply because the contractor will have less time to look for specials and special offers.
It’s essential to chat with them first to ascertain what supplies the craftsman will require and to solicit their opinion on specific products if needed.
To highlight the costs connected with supplies only, we’ve included a table below that details the various supply costs.
What Are the Additional Costs Associated with Artex Removal?
The following is a list of some of the additional costs associated with removing Artex:
A Sample Survey of Artex
An Artex Sample Survey is conducted to determine whether the artex in your home contains asbestos.
This survey costs £200 in total, but depending on a few circumstances, it may not be necessary.
For starters, if your artex was installed before 1985, it almost certainly contains asbestos and must be completely removed; thus, the survey is largely unnecessary.
If your Artex was put in use after 1985, there is a good likelihood that it contains asbestos. However, it may not, in which case you may wish to have a sample tested to determine if the ceilings or walls can be coated and sealed instead.
Naturally, the Artex Sample Survey is in place for everyone’s health and safety, and you should not seal or coat Artex walls or ceilings without first screening for dangerous elements, since the consequences could be fatal.
If the £200 charge for the survey does not fit your budget, you can get online testing kits for roughly £30 per kit. While these kits do not provide the same level of accuracy as professional testing, they are still better than no test at all!
Decorating
After removing or sealing and coating your Artex walls, you may like to give your area a fresh lease of life by decorating.
A fresh coat of paint and some new wallpaper may completely transform your area, and the old Artex will become a distant memory.
Removal of white artex
It’s not prohibitively expensive to have your rooms professionally decorated, with a standard 13-foot by 10-foot room costing between £150 and £200 to decorate, depending on your location.
Decoration takes around two days, and with the addition of a few new fixtures and accessories, your space will be transformed totally overnight.
Of course, these rates vary according to the size and intricacy of your rooms, but if you’re looking to decorate your entire home, there are some excellent savings to be had.
Cost Disparities by Region
Throughout this book, we’ve noted that the cost of trade employment varies according to your location in the United Kingdom.
Large cities such as London and Edinburgh naturally draw higher payments because of their locations’ high cost of living and population density, which provide more consumers for craftsmen.
In basic terms, tradespeople are in great demand in those locations and so they charge slightly more.
On the other hand, in smaller towns and villages, there are fewer clients and more competition among labourers to maintain competitive prices in order to acquire jobs.
This is standard across all industries, and those who reside in these locations are unlikely to be aware of any differences.
In the following part, we’ll look at the labour costs associated with Artex removal in greater detail.
The cost of artex removal by a tradesperson
Artex removal takes significantly longer than sealing or covering Artex, mostly due to the additional care required for health and safety.
It is far more difficult to entirely eliminate the Artex ingredient. Naturally, once the Artex is gone, it’s a matter of smoothing the surfaces with plaster, which adds time to the job’s duration.
A typical tradesperson may charge between £150 and £250 per labourer per day.This implies that if the job is extremely difficult due to the size or layout of your rooms, they may need to operate as a two-person team rather than as a single individual. This will become clearer once the contractors have quoted the project.
In the next part, we’ll examine the time required to remove or seal and coat Artex ceilings and walls, which will help you determine how much you’re likely to pay contractors to do this project.
Of course, keep in mind the points we’ve made about your home’s location and the effect that can have on contractor costs.
A reasonable rule of thumb is to use the top end of the cost scale for major cities such as London and the bottom end for more rural regions, with anything in between being closer to the national average.
How Long Does Artex Removal Take?
The time required to remove Artex varies considerably, ranging from a few hours to the better part of a week, and is entirely dependent on several time-related factors.
The first obvious aspect is the size of the area that needs artex removal.
A tiny box room will take a few hours to a day to complete, while an entire home can take far longer, perhaps up to a week.
This will, of course, affect the pricing as well, and is something that the contractor will be able to inform you of throughout the quoting process.
Another element that affects the amount of time required is the quality of the Artex, as it is much easier to remove Artex that is already cracked, flaking, and showing signs of wear.
By comparison, any Artex that is still adhered to the surface would take far longer to remove. The clean-up process following Artex removal can take quite a while, as the room can become rather dusty and untidy, which the contractor wants cleansed completely and all artex bagged away before leaving.
Coating and sealing Artex ceilings and walls is now significantly faster, regardless of the technique employed. Scraping and chiselling away at the Artex is a time-and energy-consuming process; therefore, it is more cost-effective to use the coat and seal method whenever possible.
This process takes a few hours per surface, but the larger the surface area, the longer it will take, and if you’re concealing the Artex with plasterboard, any complexly shaped rooms will take even longer.
Artex Removal Methods:
Here are several methods for removing Artex:
Artex Scrapping Price
The first method of Artex removal is full removal by whatever means necessary.
The two most common procedures are heating to soften the substance and make it simpler to scrape off, and straight-up chiselling and scraping.
This is the sole method for removing asbestos from Artex, and the likelihood is that your Artex does contain asbestos.
If in doubt, it’s advisable to test a sample using either the Artex Sample Survey test, which costs £200, or a home testing kit, which costs roughly £50 and is accessible online.
You should not coat or seal Artex unless you are certain it is absolutely free of asbestos, as the effects could be severe.
The Cost of Artex Chemical Removal
Rather than heating and scraping, you can purchase chemicals that will degrade the Artex and make it simpler to scrape from the walls. This is referred to as X-TEX, and it has grown in popularity.
A man is removing a substance called artex.
Due to the fact that it is water-based, non-toxic, and non-flammable, despite the fact that it is a chemical, it is a highly safe solution. Simply use a paintbrush to liberally apply the X-TEX to the walls, wait for it to release the Artex, and then scrape it away effortlessly.
Additionally, it eliminates the danger of asbestos particles entering the atmosphere of your home.
The Cost of Sealing and Coating Plasterboard
If your Artex does not contain asbestos after a sample is taken, you can seal and coat it instead to create a smooth, clean surface.
There are two solutions to this. The first step is to seal and coat the plasterboard. This is the area where plasterboard is fastened in place over the artex and plastered in place.
The plasterboard is then covered with plaster to create a delightfully smooth surface that is ready to be decorated in any style desired.
The Cost of Plaster Sealing and Coating
This method of covering and sealing the surface entails applying multiple layers of plaster until the newly plastered surface is perfectly smooth and free of imperfections.
This is the most frequently used method of coating and sealing Artex, as it does not require large amounts of plasterboard to be fitted into the home.
Additionally, it is much faster, allowing the artisan to complete several rooms in rapid succession. Prior to applying any plaster to the Artex, a coating of PVA will be applied to act as a sealer and provide a surface for the plaster to adhere to.
FAQs
How can I cover an Artex wall without plastering it?
A: Plasterboard pieces can be used to cover and seal an Artex surface and then plastered over, obviating the requirement to plaster over the Artex itself.
This is a popular approach for coating and sealing Artex surfaces, and if this is the method you wish to use, inform your contractor immediately.
What is the most effective method for removing Artex?
A: In recent years, X-TEX has become the preferred method for removing Artex, as the wet chemical material makes scraping the Artex easier and safer, as it prevents any asbestos particles from being sucked into the room’s air.
A 2.5L tub of X-TEX can be purchased at any respectable DIY store and will easily cover a large surface of Artex.
Is it possible to remove Artex on your own?
A: Artex must be eliminated because it was frequently used in conjunction with asbestos. Asbestos is a hazardous material that can cause lung and repository diseases, so it is recommended to leave this task to professionals.
Contractors will almost certainly wear personal protective equipment when removing or working with Artex surfaces, as asbestos has a tendency to break down into a very fine powder and hang in the air, which can be hazardous if inhaled.
Is it now illegal to use Artex?
A: Artex is still widely available at DIY stores, and while it has fallen out of favour in favour of other drugs, it is now safe to use.
This is because asbestos has been prohibited in Artex since 1985, and any new Artex acquired after that date will be absolutely safe to use.
Why was asbestos used in the manufacture of Artex?
A: Asbestos was used in conjunction with Artex as a strengthening agent to ensure the strength of the Artex once it had dried and set on ceilings and walls.
While this made Artex an extremely durable material for use in residential construction, it proved damaging to people’s health when asbestos broke free and was released into the air.
If your looking for a reliable asbestos artex removal company then give us a call.
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