Ceiling preparation

Hi Paul,
I want to plaster over a ceiling which has artex. Large areas of the artex have flaked off and a lot of the remaining artex is also easy to scrape off with little resistance.

Should I remove as much as possible before applying PVA?

Answer

The loose will definitely need to be removed - any sound artex will be absolutely fine to just apply the PVA to. However you should be careful if the artex predates the early 1980's it may contain asbestos - in which case you should seek advice as to the best way to prepare. When I'm faced with this situation I have my own way of dealing with it but I would not deem myself qualified enough to give out advice regarding asbestos. The following links may help though:

http://www.homebuilding.co.uk/2012/09/05/dealing-with-asbestos/

http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/essentials/coatings.htm

Hopefully lots of PVA will do the trick - the first coat nice and weak to allow it to be absorbed into the artex to seal it - with subsequent coats a slightly thicker dilution of PVA. (if the 1st coat of PVA is too thick it may not be absorbed into the artex and could just lay upon the surface which could just peel off in the future.)

Paul