Project-managed refurbishment & building, London Covering all London boroughs 07498 597339
Gas Safe engineers NICEIC engineers Fully Insured
Artex and textured coatings

Is the artex
on your ceiling
asbestos?

Across London, from Sutton and Kingston to Richmond and Twickenham. A test answers it in a few days and costs very little. Guessing does not, and disturbing it before you know is the one thing you must not do.

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The straight answer

Age is the
first indicator.

Textured coatings were widely used on ceilings and some walls from the 1960s onwards, and many formulations included a small percentage of chrysotile asbestos to help the material work. Blue and brown asbestos were banned in the UK in 1985, and white asbestos (chrysotile), the type usually found in textured coatings, was banned in November 1999.

What not to do

Do not sand it,
scrape it or drill it.

The single worst thing you can do with a textured ceiling of unknown age is attack it with a sander or a scraper. That is precisely the action that releases fibres into the room, and it turns a contained material into an airborne one across the whole house.

How the job runs

Test first,
then decide.

A small sample is taken under controlled conditions and sent to a laboratory. The result comes back in a few days and tells you whether asbestos is present and in what form. That single step removes all the guesswork and it is inexpensive relative to the work that follows.

How it works

From the first test
to a finished ceiling.

1. Sample and test

A small sample is taken under controlled conditions and sent to a laboratory. The result usually comes back within a few days and tells you whether asbestos is present.

2. Choose the route

If the result is negative, the coating is treated like any other finish. If it is positive, there are three options: leave it intact and painted, overboard it with a new plasterboard ceiling, or have it removed. We explain the cost, disruption and resale implications of each so you can decide.

3. Removal by asbestos specialists

Removal of asbestos-containing textured coatings is carried out by trained asbestos specialists working to HSE guidance, with the area sealed, the material kept wet and the waste bagged and taken away for proper disposal. Where the work needs a licensed contractor, a licensed contractor does it. GMAS does not hold an asbestos licence.

4. Clean-up and paperwork

The area is cleaned and inspected before it is handed back, and you receive the waste disposal paperwork, which is worth keeping for when you sell.

5. Replastering and decoration

Once the coating is gone, we replaster or skim the ceiling, make good around fittings and decorate, so the room is finished rather than left as a bare ceiling.

Commercial buildings and blocks

The duty to manage
asbestos.

If you own, manage or are responsible for maintaining a non domestic building, regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 places a duty on you to manage any asbestos in it. That covers shops, offices, restaurants and industrial units, and the common parts of blocks of flats: the stairwells, plant rooms, roof spaces and service risers. Any building built before 2000 should be assumed to contain some until a survey shows otherwise.

Before any refurbishment, strip out or demolition, a different survey is needed: a refurbishment and demolition survey of the area being worked on, which is more intrusive because it has to find what the work will disturb. This is the one that matters before a dilapidations strip out, a fit out or a refurbishment.

If a survey flagged it

What your report
probably said.

Surveyors are careful with this one because they are not permitted to confirm or rule out asbestos visually. Typical wording is textured coatings are present which, given the age of the property, may contain asbestos, and specialist testing is recommended prior to any disturbance.

Some reports go further and list it under matters for your legal adviser, which is about disclosure on sale rather than about safety today.

Common questions

Questions we get
asked most.

Does all artex contain asbestos?+
No. Asbestos was used in some textured coating formulations, not all of them, and its use in these products was banned in the UK by 1999. Age is the guide: pre 2000 should be treated as suspect until tested, later coatings almost certainly are not.
Is artex dangerous if I leave it alone?+
An intact, painted, undisturbed textured coating is generally not considered a risk to occupants. The hazard is created by disturbing it, so sanding, scraping and drilling are what to avoid, not living under it.
How long does a test take?+
A sample is taken under controlled conditions and the laboratory result usually comes back within a few days. It is the cheapest step in the whole process and it removes the need to assume anything.
Can you remove it and replaster in one job?+
Yes, that is the point of coming to us rather than arranging it piecemeal. Removal is carried out by our specialist asbestos partners under the appropriate controls, and we handle the replastering and making good afterwards so you are dealing with one firm.
Is overboarding a real alternative to removal?+
It can be. A new plasterboard ceiling below the existing one encapsulates the coating. It is cheaper and less disruptive but it loses a little ceiling height, and the material remains in the property so it still has to be declared when you sell.
Do I need an asbestos management survey?+
If you are responsible for a non domestic building built before 2000, or for the common parts of a block of flats, yes in most cases. The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 require you to manage asbestos, and a management survey and register is the normal way to do it.
What is the difference between a management survey and a refurbishment and demolition survey?+
A management survey finds and assesses asbestos in the areas used day to day so it can be managed in place. A refurbishment and demolition survey is more intrusive and is required before building work, to find anything the work would disturb.
Do you cover Sutton, Kingston, Richmond and Twickenham?+
Yes. We cover all of London, including Sutton, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond and Twickenham, where a lot of 1960s and 1970s housing still has its original textured ceilings.
Tell us what it says

Get a written
price.

Quicker to ring
07498 597339

Monday to Saturday 9am to 8pm, Sunday 9am to 3pm. All London boroughs.

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Or email
enquiry@gmasgroup.co.uk

Send the paragraph from your report and we will price the work it describes.

Related work

Often needed
alongside this.

Replastering and skimmingBlown or hollow plaster hacked off and replaced once the wall behind it is dry.Read moreLease end dilapidationsThe schedule priced line by line, then strip out and reinstatement carried out.Read moreCommercial building servicesFit out, maintenance and compliance for shops, offices and landlords.Read moreSurvey repairsEvery defect on a RICS survey priced and fixed by one contractor.Read more
Coverage

Areas we cover.

We take artex and asbestos removal work across all 32 London boroughs. Most of our work is in west London, in Shepherd's Bush, Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington, Chiswick and White City, and in south west London, in Putney, Wandsworth and Wimbledon. We also work in south east London, in Greenwich, Blackheath and Lewisham.

If your property is outside these areas, call us anyway. We travel across London and will tell you honestly if a job is too far to price properly.

Shepherd's BushHammersmithFulhamKensingtonChelseaChiswickWhite CityNotting HillActonEalingPaddingtonEarl's CourtSouthallUxbridgeHounslowBrentfordHarrowWembleyPutneyWandsworthWimbledon and all other London boroughs
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