Skimming artex

[John Rumm]

Just about to skim a ceiling, but thought I had better check for any tales of woe first ;-)

The ceiling has nasty pointy stipple pattern artex on it. Painted with vinyl silk emulsion. I have knocked off all the pointy bits with the edge of a trowel (that was strangely satisfying!), leaving probably a

60/40 split in surface types of painted, and unpainted artex.

Anyone see any problems getting some multifinish to stick to it?

[Andrew Gabriel]

I've noticed some artex seems to be very water soluable, but I've never tried plastering on that. Anyway, what you normally do is two coats of PVA first; the first diluted 5:1 and left to dry, and the second diluted 3:1 and ideally still just slightly tacky when you start plastering.

Unless you're a good fast plasterer, avoid doing it in warm weather, particularly ceilings which are slower to do anyway, and in the hottest part of a room. The plaster will set before you can get it smoothed out.

[[news]]

brother in law has just bought a house with everything covered in artex, walls, ceilings, even some skirting. his plasterer told him to just paint it with bonding agent from british gypsum, it's green so you can see where you've painted. 'parrently it's the dogs danglies, no need to chip off the peaks of the artex, either.

blah

• For use on smooth backgrounds eg concrete with Thistle Bonding Coat, or for re-skimming.

• No dilution - so no scope for errors, no time spent mixing, no confusion on site.

• Always used in one coat only - so no decisions to take about background porosity etc.

• Contains fine aggregates for better mechanical, as well as chemical adhesion.

• Green in colour - so it's easy to see where it's been applied.

• Plastered when dry - so no difficult timing to get right.

• The only product recommended for use with Thistle Bonding Coat plaster.

• Choice of 10 litre and 5 litre containers for ease of use and less waste.

HtH

RT