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“Happy Artex Removal”

written by katfra50 on 20/02/2014

Bought this product after getting a few quotes to skim over the two rooms I have covered in awful artex, and the cost was too expensive. I searched the internet and came across X-Tex on Twitter @homestrip and saw an interesting article on the safest way to remove this lovely stuff! 

I did a test area first and covered it with foil and left overnight. I then removed the foil and the surface was soft. I was not convinced until I scraped the surface and it came away quite easily and left what looked like a thin coating of artex, or thicker areas of artex (this was a swirl pattern) I re-applied and left for two hours and it came off leaving the original plaster surface.

This was a big removal job so I set to remove the artex from a wall at a time. I pasted two walls and covered them with whatever I could get my hands on really. Foil, plastic bags and cling film all seem to work well. The next day I set to remove the covering on one wall and remove. One thing I would say is once you have done a test area you know how this product works for you, and how this product works on that particular surface. Both rooms were different and I guess that was down to the type of paint that was applied over the artex.

Essential tools: Long handled blade scraper, foil, plastic bags, cling film, latex gloves, disposable paper suit, lots of newspaper to put down on the floor (I put four layers of newspaper and as I scraped the artex off it dropped onto the newspaper. I then wrapped the top layer of newspaper up and bagged it, putting a fresh layer down afterwards) large paint brush (4inch) and wet sponge and water(this I used to clean the walls after removal) Most important make sure you cover areas that are painted, as it can remove paint from your skirting boards or window sills.

I noticed quite a few negative reviews on here but was not put off, as there are more positive ones and after looking at the replies from the manufacturers it is clear these customers weren’t using it properly, as I am far from the best DIYer and it worked for me.

Both rooms now clear of artex at a fraction of the cost to re-skim. However, this does take work, and it does not fall off in front of your eyes!