What is this wall finish known as?

Brass Monkey coughed up some electrons that declared:

Looks like lumpy textured paint put on with a roller to me. Too irregular to be textured paper and not lumpy enough for artex (though it could be).

Options might include: sanding (dusty) or maybe steam and scrape (don't know but if it works will be the least messy and maybe fastest option).

If you wet it with warm water, will it scrape off (the lumps at least)?

Cheers

Tim

Dunno yet, it's on the waiting list for a round-tuit ;)

Don't know about now but, years back, the d-i-y version of Artex was a kind-of heavy paint with irregular solid bits in it. The resulting finish was pretty much as the OP's photograph. As you suggest, removal is a matter of grunt, diligence and tenacity.

Oh dear. It looks very much like textured paint, from memory an emulsion with grains of sand or similar, and popular in the 1970s. I think it was sold as a remedy for poor and uneven walls.

The only way to get if off is grunt, grunt and more grunt, interspersed with a liberal amount of swearing.

I put a plaster skim coat over it. Providing it's not loose or peeling, this may be easier than stripping it off. The previous owners had paneled over it, but I stripped the panelling off and wanted smooth plaster walls back. Some records I found hinted that the paint might have been applied during some work done in

It might be worth trying some paint remover. I have seen some such finishes wither under the assault. Not sure which paint remover would be best - any suggestions?

In message , Brass Monkey writes

Small gang of Polish blokes, if you can find one that includes a plasterer so much the better.

It looks like the stuff I had in my house on the bathroom ceiling. I found a steam wallpaper stripper got it soft enough that it peeled off easily.

It was almost rubbery in consistency once it was warm and it peeled off in quite large sections.

Unfortunately it was there to hold the ceiling together, hence the plasterer comment.

And half the wall with it if it was used for the purpose intended...

Worth trying a steam wallpaper stripper first though. Easy enough to do, and it works wonders on Artex.

I don't remember Artex having any intrinsic texture at all - and I used it quite a bit - the OP's photo looks more like Sandtex to me.

A steamer and a scraper is worth a try to remove it.

-- Nige Danton

Looks like Sandtex textured wall finish or similar. Sand it reasonably flat with a flat pad sander, unibond it ... and then treat with a wall smoothing finish product.... such as

The "proper" stuff doesn't, but the d-i-y product I referred to did.