We Just had to force a mattress up the stairs , which was rubbing against a lower ceiling ; which has artex on it , causing some of the artex to rub/flake off .
Sitting here now i've just remembered that artex contains asbestos .
The Builder - i really cant remember i think it was in the 1980's , when it was applied to the ceiling .
I just got a bit worried , because our hands was covered with the dust form the Artex and it was all over the carpet - so we must have breathed the dust in as well ; and obviously the artex on the celing has been disturbed .
While i'm on the subject , we have also got artex on the living room and bathroom ceilings .
We are going to re-decorate the two rooms soon and would like to do something about the artex to get a smooth surface .
Would covering it with plaster board be the usual route to take , or what else would you suggest ?
Over-boarding is fine, but there is no need.
Usual course is to skim over the Artex with standard finishing plaster. (The pink stuff.)
That works well if the stipple/pattern is not too "raised". If it is a bit deep, then a first coat of "Carlite Bonding Coat" is applied first............ then the skim.
Do as The Builder says and skim over at this stage with plaster. If you overlay with plasterboard you would, in my opinion, still need a top dressing of plaster; unless you cover the joints with tape and then paper over everything before finally painting.