Replacing ceiling boards.

Our living room ceiling has some fairly ugly artex on it. Rather than scrape it off, I think I want to just replace it. I'm trying to decide whether to pull the old ones down, or to put new boards over them. The artex is fairly lumpy, so if I was going to put boards over the old ones, I think I'd have to scrape away some tracks (I already have some X-Tex, which works as well as can be expected) to put noggings in. So, right now, I'm slightly inclined to pulling it all down, however messy it might be. Is it possible to pull the old nails out, or does this just make the boards crumble away anyway? I want to create as little dust as possible. The artex has been there since about the late 80's, I'd guess (the house was built in '86), so it's not impossible that there's asbestos in it.

Reply to
Etaoin Shrdlu
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If you are not sure about the asbestos, don't you just have to work on the basis that it's there?

Reply to
GB

I've just boarded over mine, but it was towards the "heavy polyripple" end of the scale, rather than "mountain range" type so I just screwed it straight over

If you can locate the joists above with a bradawl and mark them with a stringline (if you have three hands available, laserline if only two) you could use resilient bars instead of battens, then you shouldn't need to scrape anything away ...

Reply to
Andy Burns

This may seem silly, but I don't actually know. Some people tell me that artex hasn't contained artex since the 70's, but what's the possibility of some builder using a tub that's been lying around for that long? I've been thinking about this for a while now, and have not really been able to decide either way. I'm just wondering if there's anyone else that had to make a similar decision.

Reply to
Etaoin Shrdlu

Ours is a sort of swirly 'mountain' type. I'm not sure that the new boards would meet up straight of just screwed on top. Maybe it would all average out to the same level, or maybe the highest peaks would dig in, or get flattened nicely. But yes, this is actually something I've also thought of just doing. It's good to know that it's not such a mad proposition.

Reply to
Etaoin Shrdlu

Can I ask how old you are? If you are 70+, say, the chances are you'll die of something else before any asbestosis could catch up with you. If you are a young chap, or with a young family, I suggest not taking the risk.

We have a 1971 built house, and I just live with the artex.

Reply to
GB

If it's not flat, you could always put some artex on so as to disguise that. :)

Reply to
GB

use firefoam to help stick it up, and to adjust the height of the edges so they line up nicely. And use plasterboard screw not nails. Ripping it down would be super messy - all that dust above it....

Reply to
DICEGEORGE

I'm mid 50's now. But I have young son (yes, I started late). It's for his sake that I am worried about the asbestos in the first place. As for the artex - every time I see it, I hate it a little bit more :-) It's that bad.

Reply to
Etaoin Shrdlu

I do actually have a little tub, bought a few years ago, for a small repair.

Reply to
Etaoin Shrdlu

Is that strong enough to hold it in place while I screw it in? I'll be looking for something like that, but I've never used firefoam before.

Reply to
Etaoin Shrdlu

I wouldn't screw them direct if it's too peaky, too easy for the levels to go all over the placem the resilient bar I referred to is like this

and is installed like this

The plasterboard screws bite straight into the thin metal, it's intended for ceilings, but I've used it vertically for a soundproofing wall.

Reply to
Andy Burns

Thanks, I'll have a look later. It's possible that the size of the peaks has become exaggerated in my imagination. I hate the stuff so much :-)

Reply to
Etaoin Shrdlu

And get a plasterboard bit for use in drill driver

Having done it both ways, I would tend to overboard, rather than replace.

I doubt it, I've used this foam

to fix plasterboard to walls, and even there it needed some "propping" to keep it in place while it went off, nice and firm once set though. get yourself a couple of deadmen-props

Lidaldi have them cheaper on occasion.

If using taper-edge boards, I get on better with the adhesive mesh tape, rather than the paper tape, and Wickes ready mixed joint filler is good.

Reply to
Andy Burns

I skimmed over mine but, because I don't find plaster that easy to apply overhead, I got myself a 10kg bag of...Artex. A dream to work with and all nice and flat now :-)

Reply to
stuart noble

I was reading an account by someone who'd taken the old boards away, and had used gripfill or gripfix (I can't remember which) to fix the new ones to the wooden joists, and it sounded like that worked well.

What's the tape for? I'm hoping to not have to skim it (all the boards I see for sale are supposed to be able to be painted direct), and I expect the tape would be visible. Is the joint filler alone not sufficient, if enough is pushed between the vertical edges of adjoining boards?

Reply to
Etaoin Shrdlu

You'd be creating a lot of extra work to reboard. Just knowck off the high spots & skim the whole thing.

Asbestos or not - and its not likely at that date - any fibres are bound in a solid matrix.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

I think if there was a competition for the world's worst skimmer, I'd be right up there near the top. Covering it up with another layer is the only feasible DIY solution for me, I'm afraid.

Reply to
Etaoin Shrdlu

Compare the material costs of battening, plasterboarding, and joint filling, with the cost of getting a plasterer in to skim.

Owain

Reply to
spuorgelgoog

I've thought about that, but haven't really done much in the way of calculation. It's something like 20 sq meters, so a big job for me on the one hand, but probably quite expensive to have done professionally on the other. And I'm rather, um, parsimonious :-)

Reply to
Etaoin Shrdlu

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