Let me say from the outset that this product does remove artex, but, for me, at an unwelcome cost in time, mess and money. The tub is ludicrously overpriced and only covers a limited area. It was advised by the company who were very helpful when I rang them that I would do best to cover what I had painted with polythene and leave overnight. Sticking the polythene on proved to be a task in itself. Might be better with walls rather then ceilings? The scrapings are messy and rather like chewing gum! On balance, I achieved similar results with elbow grease and a sharp scraper. My third star is rather flattering to the product but at least it wasn't useless at removing artex. If you're strong a determined and your space involved isn't to large, avoid it!

We purchased this product after watching videos which made it appear quite easy. We painted it on and covered with cling film left overnight and guess what it hardly moved any artex. £50 gone on what, back to square one. We bought a steamer which did the job.

Ordered some x-tex and missed the first delivery due to the amazingly efficient service. A bit Sceptical about this product but, toxic free, water soluble, no smell or irritants and does a great job , requires two coats as the Artex was a heavy texture. What's not to like. Will be ordering more.

Bought this as it looked like an easy solution instead of boarding over hallway textured ceiling (boarding not an option as coving & spotlights in place etc). Covered wooden floor with plastic sheeting. X Tex went on ok, and waited about an hour. Started scraping off and it was hard work. Debris fell off scraper onto me, step ladder and floor. Worked in about 2ft square at a time. Moved ladder and slipped on the mess it was creating. Sheeting tore, debris ended up underneath it. Tried cloth sheets and this was just as bad. Trainer soles got coated....Carried on..... Come to clean up and this is as bad as Nitromors but luckily it's not caustic. Ended up scraping stuff off of the floor then plenty of hot soapy water, elbow grease and on hands and knees. And it fell everywhere, walls and doors needed cleaning but back to the floor... I'll now have to sand and re-varnish as the damp stuff started stripping the varnish off. If you've got carpet, then be prepared to buy a new one. It creates a real mess and doesn't really work as well as is advertised. 2.5ltrs covered 4' x15' just! So quite dear for what it is. Now, I'm a blooming good DIYer so would I recommend it? only if you're out of other options or you're a decorator who likes hard work and a lot of cleaning up...find another option. On a positive note, I've cleaned out the tub and will use it as a paint kettle in the future.....

Having decided to remove all our artex from our hallways I thought I would give X-tex a go. To be perfectly honest I am astonished at the results. If applied in the correct manner (As recommended on tub) and sufficient time left after application the artex comes off a treat. I use both a 4" razor tipped and a double handed 6" razor tipped scraper to do the work and providing you keep the blade at a shallow angle the stuff flies off. Put it this way, I managed to get about 250 ft sq done in about four to five hours, including application and soaking time . Our artex was a very heavy bark effect and after a bit of trial and error found that a soak time of about 90 minutes was ideal. As easy as stripping some wallpapers .The hallway will be replastered afterwards so a wash down will be done to eliminate any residue . If users have had bad experiences I can only guess they may not have used sufficient gel or possibly not given it enough time so soak in. Anywhoo, it certainly works for me. Just a pity it is not available in 10 litre tubs :)

Bought some of this to do a bathroom ceiling. Getting in on was an absolute nightmare with the stuff going every where except on the ceiling (thank god for dust sheets). Finally managed to cover a 1 metre by 2 metre area and left it for and hour and a half to work. Removing it was even worse than putting it on, yes it does remove the artex, but it requires arm muscles like the Hulk and leaves lots of semi liquid spotches all over the floor and I had to scrap the dust sheets as trying to clean the gunk of them proved near impossible. I will be hiring a plasterer and I suggest you do too.

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!

Persuaded by the video and a series of good reviews I bought this. It is ok to apply but does not work! Left it 2 hours...nothing, overnight...nothing, reapplied another coat....nothing. Have resorted to using a steamer. I feel like I have wasted 25 pounds and made a whole load of mess too. Im half way through and losing the will. Wish I'd just had it skimmed over. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Followed. The manufacturers instructions but just didn't work - no way does it scrape off like the u-tube clip. Just buy a steamer which is a bit messy but does the job instead and you can always use it for paper later! Beware this stuff does take varnish off though and if a drop of it splodges on you doors it takes the paint off them instead. Don'T waste your money

I never write reviews, Honest i dont. I recently bought a new house where ALL the rooms had artex on the ceiling and there was artex on the bedroom walls too. I have kids, so artex on a wall had to go. I was quoted well over 500 pounds to have someone come in and remove it, this seemed excessive, but ive since been told this was reasonable. However having just moved home, i dont really have that kind of disposable income lying around. I seen this particular review site and decided that for 22 pounds i really should give the product a try. If it didnt work then i didnt lose a huge amount and was still in the same position. It arrived next working day. I had read the reviews previous to purchasing and i used the method of scoring the artex first with a blade and then i pasted on the gel and covered with cling film. I left it overnight. I had my 3 kids in the house at the time of use. The gel was easy to use, and didnt have a strong odour. It didnt drip and i got it on my hands and it didnt burn or even irritate my skin. I went to the house again the next day, i didnt have high hopes but boy was i wrong. THIS PRODUCT (XTEX) IS FANTASTIC. I used a long armed scraper with a blade and the artex came off in one single stroke with minimal effort. I think leaving it overnight helped, I didnt find it sticky or gluey. It was dry and skimmed the artex off with ease. It does leave a mess on the floor but thankfully i dont have carpets or anything down yet so it was easily swept up. I will shortly be ordering another tub to finish off the job. I cant reccommend this product highly enough. If you follow the instructions and leave for more than the one hour stated then it really does do exactly what it says it will. Im thrilled that im going to save so much money! thanks for a great product!

I had artex on landing hall and stairs, I have just started using this product and was a bit sceptical about it after reading reviews, however painted it on left for 30 mins and couldnt believe it off came the artex, it is very messy and have now decided not to use the cheap plastic floor covering as it gets everywhere and can get easily trodden in, so delighted ordering another tin - although expensive would definately recommend it.

I really wished I had discovered this product as after having a room skimmed over costing a small fortune i could have saved alot of money with X Tex. Okay yes its messey but what isnt and its sure cleaner than using a steamer! I had to leave this on overnight to soften the paint that was coated over the artex but it did this no problem at all, but after doing a small area first soon realised I had to cover it with plastic film. This then just came right off with a blade scraper right back to plaster, and after an overnight coating it only took me just under two hours to scrape off all four walls and a ceiling... I bought a 15 litre from Decorating Direct and to also mention what a great company they are. Thank you to X-Tex

In the past I used X-Tex on several ceilings and walls in my house. I found the best way was to paint on the gel then cover the area with sheets of polythene to keep the gel moist and leave as long as possible. The thick areas of artex I left like this overnight then removed the artex relatively easily using a six inch, very sharp bladenext day. Yes, it is messy, expensive and time consuming but it certainly did the trick for me and was the most effective of all the other methods I used.

I am currently half way through removing the Artex from the kitchen ceiling. I have come to the conclusion that removing Artex from a ceiling is a job from hell and that X-Tex is a Devil's must. A Devil's must because of its stupidly expensive price tag.

The idea to remove the Artex was a daunting prospect but would like to share my views and idea to make it more bearable. Measure the ceiling dimensions and split into a grid of equal sized areas; tackle the ceiling square by square, it might take two weeks-ends or during longer dayllight hours, one square an evening. I split my ceiling area into 12 equal sized squares of about 90cm x 90cm, drawing onto the ceiling with a pencil to outline them: work on one area at a time working this way will let you complete areas of a room and so leaving the room available to live in until the next available time when you can remove more (over 2 x 4 hour sessions in one weekend I have removed 60% of the Artex.) Using masking tape I masked off on the walls under where the ceiling meets wall because X-Tex will remove any paint on the walls. Apply the X-Tex to the ceiling generously with a good sized brush (I used a 1 inch brush) and leave for 30 minutes or more. Using the edge of the scraper gently score into the softened Artex in a grid pattern so when you scrape the Artex it comes away square "bite-sized" pieces rather then one contiguous piece, doing this is particularly useful if the Artex is painted.

Applied to virgin Artex X-Tex softens the Artex and makes it very easy to remove using a scraper tool and it does so without making fine dust. When applied to Artex painted with matt emulsion paint the paint comes away very easily leaving the Artex underneath slightly softened but still dusty; I scrapped the whole lot off dust and all so you may wish to use a dust mask for this job, not that X-Tex has an unpleasant smell. I used a large paint roller tray in one hand to catch the removed Artex while scraping with the other. That said, using plastic protective sheet is a must and you should use sheets to protect anything in close vicinity of the Artex being removed.

After scraping away the Artex use a damp rag to clean the ceiling and to wipe away any excess Artex that may remain on the ceiling. Repeat.

Tips. Remember to turn off power to the light circut if you remove ceiling light fittings ans mask off the bare wires. Wear a hat. Get someone else to do this job!

Now to get the ceiling plastered flat!