Starting in a corner, place the steamer plate on the surface for several seconds and then lift it away and use a 3 inch scraper or filling knife to test how soft it is. Repeat this over and over until you can feel the scraper penetrate all the way through the artex and then you can scrape it off. Most of the time you should be able to fix full boards but as you get to the end you will have to make cuts. See our project here on cutting and fixing plasterboard for more help

Leave it to dry fully, which may take 24 hours or so and once done you’re ready for the final stage. X-Tex for removing Artex and other textured coatings safely X-Tex, Artex, Asbestos, health and safety Steaming artex off is a very messy process that involves lots of water dripping down, especially when working on a ceiling and lots of soft, damp artex, so the first task is to remove any furniture present in the room and then cover anything left and the floor with plastic dust sheets or tarps. With this in mind, you can use a plasterboard lifter to lift and hold the boards in place or you can enlist the help of a family member or friend to hold the boards up while you fix them.Skim plaster is bought in bags of 25kg (Smaller bags can be bought for patching) and the mixing instructions are on the bag. Most artex® has been painted over the years with various coats of emulsions and this does need to be removed before you can start removing the artex®. The most difficult of these is vinyl silk which contains plastic polymers, and once softened by any type of paint remover can turn it into a gooey mess! This stuff is great. Artex was applied to thousands upon thousands of houses from 1970 to 1990 because it was so much cheaper and easier to apply than plaster. It covered a multitude of sins and required very little surface preparation. However, it is no longer in vogue! X-Tex makes short work of removing any textured coating, inside or out and is one of those products which does exactly as it says on the tub. What Our Customers Say Use a Stud Detector: Buy or borrow a stud detector and run it over the surface of the wall or ceiling in several places and mark both edges of each joist. Once marked join all the lines up so that you can clearly see where each joist is across the width of the room. This is probably the easiest method Using a 3 inch paint brush, dip it in the X-Tex and then apply it to the artex. Be liberal when applying and ensure there’s a good coating.

Vinyl silk is hard to penetrate with any type of paint remover, so the first recommendation is to apply a light coat of X-Tex then lightly scoring the surface with a blade. We then recommend applying another layer of X-Tex which will work into the score marks and help remove the paint from behind. Specialist Artex Remover: Again a cheap route to go down that’s very effective, depending on the product you use (some better than others). The best we have found is the Eco Solutions X-Tex Artex Remover as it can also be used on artex with asbestos in. Can also be a little messy, depending on what product you use X-Tex Artex Remover 15ltr is an excellent Artex remover and allows for removing textured coatings such as *Artex® without causing dust from harmful asbestos fibres.Once all boards are fixed to the surface there’s a few different ways they can be finished. The standard way is to plaster over them, which can be done using the steps above, however there is another way.

Next, cut into a small section of this with the trowel held at 90 degrees to the hawk. Tilt the hawk towards you while pushing and “scooping” the trowel and plaster away. Note: If you are stripping artex with asbestos in, just to be 100% safe, always wear a suitable mask, FFP3 or above and clean up after every patch has been stripped, just to keep everything as tidy as possible. Put everything in a plastic bin liner.Note: if it’s not smooth or there is too much damage then worse case scenario you will need to get it skim plastered over before it can be decorated. Removing Artex using Eco Solutions X–Tex To remove artex using a standard wallpaper steamer, work through the following steps. For the purposes of this example we will be stripping artex off of a ceiling: