Plastering onto artex

[Staffbull]

Can I palster directly onto a painted artex wall, I'll be using multifinish as its a bit more forgiving than pink!!

Thanks

[George]

Yes,but if its in a kitchen? wash the wall down with sugar soap as grease gets everywhere.

[Lobster]

I think it depends, on what type of Artex it is and how firmly its bonded to the substrate. IME, pros don't like doing it as there's a fair to middling chance that once the Artex gets wet, it will bubble or fall off, and the customer will blame the plasterer.

I've certainly seen it done, with no problems at all.

Give it a darned good going over first with a large scraper, to knock off any high points in the Artex which will either poke through the skim, and/or greatly increase the required thickness of the new plaster.

David

[Andrew Gabriel]

Multifinish is pink or grey, depending which quarry it comes from (and roughly, where in the country you are). There's no difference between the two. Occasionally, halfway through a job, you open up a new bag, and it's the other colour.

A garden hoe is useful for this. If it's an artex pattern with stalactites, you'll need to snap them all off. Any you miss will snap off in the plaster, and make it gritty/lumpy.

The first coat brings it all up to the level of the artex peaks. The second coat covers them, so you can polish the plaster finish.

[Staffbull]

Cheers, I meant "pink" plaster which is different to mulyi finish, multifinish "stays" for a littler longer than normal plaster and has more "fat" to skim it. So I was told

[Staffbull]

Cheers all, I hoped I could :-) otherwise I'd hate to think how I'd get the bugger off :-)

[pablomartin]

As mentioned before the hoe works well . anything loose or friable needs to come off , if you rub the background it should be sound not chalky on the fingers , if it is you need to stabilise it ( not unibond ) unibond the ceiling after you've denibbed the Artex

Pablo

[Staffbull]

Thanks, its all sound, so no worries there :-)

[tester]

I thought you should be very careful in breaking down artex in any fashion, as most artex contains asbestos - is this not true?

[Andy Hall]

Artex applied before the mid 80s may have contained small amounts of white asbestos (Chrysotile).

Most published research suggests that it's not *as* dangerous as the blue and brown forms, although that's not to say that it is completely safe any more than plenty of other materials used around the home are hazard free.

There is considerable financial interest in all of this, of course. For example, in the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2002, removal of textured coverings was included as something that had to be done by a licensed contractor. This was changed in 2006.

[Phil L]

Scrape. PVA. Skim. You can skim once the pva has dried or while it's still tacky