Artex ceiling covering
Artex Ceiling Covering in Bath
Textured ceilings overboarded or skimmed to a flat, smooth finish, with the old coating left undisturbed where that is the safer route.
The problem
Textured Ceilings in Bath Homes
- Swirls, stipple or peaks that date the whole room
- Cracks appearing along the ceiling line or across the middle
- Textured ceilings that trap dust and are impossible to clean
- Patchy repairs from old light fittings or loft hatches
- A ceiling that has been painted over so many times the texture has gone soft
Plenty of houses around Bath still have the textured ceilings that went on in the seventies and eighties. There is nothing wrong with most of them structurally, but they make a room feel older than it is, and a flat white ceiling changes how the whole room reads.
The options
Overboarding or Skimming an Artex Ceiling
Which one suits your ceiling depends on the depth of the texture, the condition of the plaster behind it and the age of the coating.
Overboarding
New plasterboard fixed up through the old ceiling into the joists, then skimmed. It leaves the textured coating untouched, deals with deep swirls without fighting them, and gives a genuinely flat ceiling. It drops the ceiling by the thickness of the board, which is rarely noticeable in a normal room.
Skimming over the texture
Where the texture is shallow, the coating is well stuck and the ceiling is sound, it can be prepared and skimmed directly. Less disruption and less waste, but it only works when the ceiling underneath is genuinely in good order.
Taking the ceiling down
If the ceiling behind is loose, cracked through or has come away from the joists, covering it just hides a problem. In that case it comes down, gets reboarded and skimmed — see ceiling repairs in Bath.
Textured coatings applied before 2000 may contain asbestos. We don't sand, scrape or dry disturb them; overboarding is normally the sensible answer, and where testing or a licensed specialist is needed we'll tell you straight.
How we work
Covering an Artex Ceiling, Step by Step
Boarding and plastering done by the same people, so nothing gets passed between trades.
- 01
Look at the ceiling
We check how deep the texture is, whether the ceiling is sound underneath and what is above it before recommending anything.
- 02
Board or prepare
Deeper textures get overboarded onto the joists. Shallow, sound ones are prepared and flattened ready for skim.
- 03
Skim to a flat finish
Two coats of finish plaster worked flat, with the perimeter run neatly into the walls.
- 04
Clear up
Fittings refitted, sheets lifted, waste taken away and the room left ready for the decorator.
Why homeowners use DSB
A Plasterer in Bath Who Turns Up and Clears Up
Ceilings are the job people most often want doing before they move in or decorate, so the practical side matters: turning up when we said, sheeting the room properly, and leaving it clean at the end of each day.
You get straight advice about which method suits your ceiling rather than whichever one suits us, and the same tradesmen from first visit to final coat.
Questions
Artex ceiling questions
Can Artex just be skimmed over?+
Sometimes. If the texture is shallow and the ceiling is sound, it can be flattened and skimmed. Deeper swirls and heavy stipple usually board over better, because trying to fill that depth in skim rarely stays flat.
What about asbestos in old Artex?+
Textured coatings from before the year 2000 can contain asbestos. We don't sand or scrape those. Overboarding leaves the coating undisturbed, and where testing or a licensed removal contractor is the right route, we'll say so rather than take chances.
How much mess does it make?+
Floors and anything left in the room get sheeted, and we clear up as we go. Boarding and skimming is dusty work in places, but the room is left swept and the waste taken away.
How long does a ceiling take?+
A single average room is usually a day or two depending on whether it is boarded first, plus drying time before you decorate. We'll give you the realistic timings when we quote.
Will the light fittings and coving come off?+
Fittings come down and go back, and old coving is usually taken off first so the new finish runs cleanly into the wall line.
Related services
- Plastering services in Bath
Walls, ceilings, skimming and full-room replastering.
- Ceiling repairs in Bath
Cracks, water damage, sagging and full ceiling replacement.
- Plaster repairs in Bath
Cracked or blown plaster and making good after building work.
Request a quote
Get a Quote for Your Artex Ceiling
Send a photo of the ceiling with your postcode and rough room size, and we'll tell you whether it's a board-over or a skim and what it would cost.
Prefer to talk it through? Call 07437 217926.
Or send photos with the quote form