Artex Removal & Skimming

Is your Artex ceiling safe to skim over?

Usually, yes — provided it is tested first. Textured coatings applied before around 2000 may contain chrysotile asbestos, which is harmless while sealed and undisturbed. Skimming over a sound, sealed ceiling does not disturb it. What must never happen is dry sanding or scraping of untested material, so a sample test comes first.

The test is straightforward: a small sample goes to a UKAS-accredited laboratory, results typically come back within a few days, and the analysis costs around £50–£150 through third-party labs. If the result is clear, every option is open. If asbestos is present but the coating is sound, encapsulating it under a skim or overboarding over it is a recognised, sensible approach — removal is not automatically required.

What we will not do is disturb confirmed or suspect asbestos-containing material. Licensed asbestos removal is a specialist trade with its own controls, and if your ceiling genuinely needs stripping rather than covering, we will say so and point you toward the right people — then come back and put a perfect ceiling up afterwards.

Skim over, overboard or remove: which is right for your ceiling?

Skim over when the Artex is well-bonded, dry and reasonably shallow — it is the cheapest, fastest, cleanest route and covers most ceilings we see. Overboard when the texture is deep, the coating is tired or the ceiling beneath is poor. Remove only when there is a structural reason and the material is confirmed safe.

A skim-over means sealing the texture, knocking off only the highest nibs where testing allows, then laying on two coats of finish plaster — the same process as any re-skim, just with more build-up in the first coat. Overboarding means screwing new plasterboard through the old ceiling into the joists, then skimming the boards: a fresh, guaranteed-flat surface that locks away whatever is underneath, at the cost of around 15mm of height and a little more money.

Full removal earns its keep when the old ceiling is failing anyway — sagging lath and plaster, water damage, or a loft conversion that needs it down. At that point the job overlaps with our ceiling repair work: down comes the lot, up goes new board. We quote all viable routes and recommend one, with reasons.

What does Artex removal or covering cost in 2026?

Skimming over a sealed, tested Artex ceiling costs around £250–£450 for a typical room, depending on size and how deep the texture is. Overboarding and skimming runs roughly £400–£800 per ceiling. Full removal costs similar money or more, plus any specialist asbestos costs where tests come back positive.

Budget separately for the sample test — around £50–£150 through a third-party UKAS-accredited lab — which applies to any pre-2000 coating whatever route you choose. It is a small line on the quote, and no reputable plasterer will work without it.

Two honest pricing notes. First, deep Artex eats plaster: a heavily combed or fan-patterned ceiling can need a bonding coat before the finish coats, which pushes a skim toward the top of the range — sometimes overboarding becomes the cheaper option, and we will say when it does. Second, several ceilings done in one visit cost meaningfully less per room, because the sheeting-up, sealing and drying time is shared.

How do we prepare Artex before skimming?

Preparation is sealing, not sanding. The room is sheeted out and the whole surface gets a coat of PVA or a stabilising primer to bind the texture and control suction. Nothing is dry-abraded on a pre-2000 coating — the test result dictates what mechanical work, if any, is allowed.

Where the test confirms the coating is asbestos-free, we can flatten the worst peaks with a scraper to reduce how much plaster the first coat needs. Where it is untested or positive, the texture stays untouched and the first coat of plaster does the levelling instead — a slightly thicker build, same flat result.

Then it is standard good practice: a tight first coat of Thistle BoardFinish or MultiFinish worked into the texture, a second coat once the first has pulled in, and the surface trowelled up paint-ready. The new skim needs 2–5 days to dry to an even pale pink before a mist coat of watered-down emulsion goes on. If you are reinstating coving around the ceiling, we fit it after the skim so it sits against flat plaster.

Can walls with textured coatings be flattened too?

Yes — textured walls are usually easier than ceilings. The same asbestos caution applies to any pre-2000 coating, so walls get the same sample test first, but once cleared or sealed they skim flat with the same two-coat process, usually at a lower price because wall work is faster than overhead work.

We see two common wall cases around Walton and Hersham. The first is Artex applied as a feature in the 1970s — usually one chimney-breast wall — which seals and skims in a morning. The second is texture applied to hide bad plaster underneath, and that is worth knowing in advance: once the coating is sealed we check for hollow, blown areas, because skimming over failing backing plaster wastes your money. Loose patches get hacked off and made good first.