HOW TO REMOVE ARTEX FROM CEILINGS AND WALLS

Artex, Popcorn, Suretex, Wondertex are all names for that textured wall or ceiling look that is a bit like marmite – you either love it or hate it. I am definitely in the ‘hate it’ club so when we bought a house where the ceilings and half of the walls are covered with it, we knew it had to be removed. This article will explain how to successfully remove artex and general tips for doing so.

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MATERIALS & TOOLS REQUIRED

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STEP 1: ATTEMPTING TO REMOVE THE ARTEX USING WATER

Before starting the process we did a lot of research on the easiest and most cost effective way to remove artex. The method that kept popping up on YouTube was simple: soak the artex and 10 mins later it would peel off. So trusting YouTube, we sprayed a patch of our artex and left it for 10 mins. We tried to scrape it afterwards but it was no use. The scraper did chip the artex a bit but it was NOT going to come off.

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I think the reason this didn’t work is that our artex had about a million coats of paint applied to it and the water just couldn’t soak through all that paint. I also tried to sand it off but the results were even worse than with water – the sanding did absolutely nothing. This is when we decided to invest in a proper artex remover and save ourselves days of endless scraping.

STEP 2: APPLYING ARTEX REMOVER

We bought a tub of ‘X-tex‘ artex remover to try. The remover was bright blue and had a thick gel-like texture to it. We applied it with a brush and it went on really easy. The texture made it go on nice and thick without dripping off. The blue colour was useful too as you could easily see where it has already been applied.

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STEP 3: USE A SHARP SCRAPER TO REMOVE THE ARTEX

The instructions say that you should leave the remover on for at least an hour but you can leave it overnight for extra stubborn areas. We decided to see if it would come off after an hour because we’re not patient people :). We invested in a sharper scraper – one of those with changeable blades and gave it a scrape. It was actually peeling off! 

THE RESULT

We went around the room and scraped off all we could. It was quite patchy in the end – some areas came almost completely clean but others still had a few patterned bits on them. The instructions recommend to do the process twice to make sure everything is removed but as we were planning on using jointing compound on the walls anyway, it was smooth enough for us – we just needed the super sticky-outy bits gone. I’m confident that if we left the first coat on overnight, it would have all came off first go too.

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TIPS

• Before buying a proper remover, give the water method a try. If it works for you, you’ll save yourself a bit of cash
• Invest in a sharp scraper
• If using a remover, be patient and leave it on for as long as you can. It will ultimately save you time and money as you might be able to remove everything in one go
• Don’t forget to wash the remover residue off before moving on to the next job