can anyone help suggest a product to use on cracked and bubbly ceilings there used to be a product called stipple but it is not available now. ( not artex please). has any one tried sand mixed in with paint, does it work?
I've worked on many-a-ceiling that has cracked & people have used polytex/artex/stipple, or textured paint...it doesn't work! The only way to cover a ceiling that is in bad condition is to paper it with either embossed paper (anaglypta or supa-glypta) or a heavy-weight blown vinyl. If you've not done much paper-hanging, then I'd go for the blown vinyl.
I forgot to mention that the ceiling will need all cracks to be filled, & all loose paint etc to be scraped off. If it's in really bad condition you may have to line it before you paper.