Artex ceiling: repairing patches
 

Steaming off the painted-over-wallpaper in my kitchen has left the
edges of the artexed ceiling in disrepair. The artex has melted off/ is
peeling off in places.

I was going to patch the faulty bits with polyfilla, then emulsion. But
a quicker option may be to patch directly with artex.

Can artex be bought in small pots? I gather it is like thick paint
which can be brushed on...

Bruce

PS: Please don't tell me to remove the whole artex ceiling -- I
actually like the look of 70s artexed ceilings! One day they'll come
back into fashion...

On Fri, 04 Feb 2005 05:20:26 -0800, bruce_phipp wrote:

Steaming off the painted-over-wallpaper in my kitchen has left the edges
of the artexed ceiling in disrepair. The artex has melted off/ is
peeling off in places.

I was going to patch the faulty bits with polyfilla, then emulsion. But
a quicker option may be to patch directly with artex.

Can artex be bought in small pots? I gather it is like thick paint which
can be brushed on...

Hi

I had to do a "bodge" on artex due to a water leak from above flat
dislodging a bit near a plasterboard joint. I managed to do it "well
enough" (TM) with PVA, slightly thinned polyfilla, a stiff brush and a
couple of thick coats of matching paint (all of which I had to hand) . It
wasn't very good, but I rarely noticed it as it was basically "lumpy and
white" and in line with the rest of the ceiling.

Yes - you can tubs of ready mixed artex. You have little chance of getting
100% blend into the original pattern, but if you've only damaged the bit
round the edge then with a bit of fiddling you should get a good enough
result. If it doesn't go as well as you hoped, I suppose you could
probably over-artex the whole ceiling to get a consistent result.

HTH

Timbo

Bruce

PS: Please don't tell me to remove the whole artex ceiling -- I actually
like the look of 70s artexed ceilings! One day they'll come back into
fashion...

Flares did ;-

wrote in message
oups.com...
Steaming off the painted-over-wallpaper in my kitchen has left the
edges of the artexed ceiling in disrepair. The artex has melted off/ is
peeling off in places.

I was going to patch the faulty bits with polyfilla, then emulsion. But
a quicker option may be to patch directly with artex.

Can artex be bought in small pots? I gather it is like thick paint
which can be brushed on...

Bruce

PS: Please don't tell me to remove the whole artex ceiling -- I
actually like the look of 70s artexed ceilings! One day they'll come
back into fashion...

I recently removed a 'room divider' made of veneered chipboard that
separated my dining room from the lounge. What I hadn't realised was that
the room divider (installed by the previous owner) had replaced an original
partition wall. The ceiling and walls had not been 'made good' when the room
divider was put up - because it hid the 'slots' where the wall had been. I
was faced with having to fill-in and then re-plaster these slots which were
about 4" wide and two inches deep. The walls were not a problem but the
ceiling was stipple artexed and after filling the 'slot' I was left with a
smooth strip right across the width of the ceiling. I originally bought a
small tub of pre-mixed artex and a proper artex stippling brush. I found the
stuff incredibly difficult to work with, however, and the finished job
looked nothing like the rest of the ceiling! I decided to scrape the repair
off and try again. This time I bought a bag of powder artex which contained
about four times as much as the pre-mix tub but cost around the same! After
a lot of trial and error I did manage to achieve some semblance of a stipple
effect - although even now you would hardly consider it an 'invisible
repair' ! I have since spoken to a professional plasterer who told me that
it is almost impossible to 'patch in' artex and achieve an invisible repair.
So there you have it. I would strongly advise buying a pack of powdered
artex - it's easy to mix and you will have plenty left over if you have to
have several tries!

Kev

On 04 Feb 2005, Tim wrote
On Fri, 04 Feb 2005 05:20:26 -0800, bruce_phipp wrote:

Can artex be bought in small pots? I gather it is like thick
paint which can be brushed on...

-snip-

Yes - you can tubs of ready mixed artex. You have little chance of
getting 100% blend into the original pattern, but if you've only
damaged the bit round the edge then with a bit of fiddling you
should get a good enough result.

I've done this to repair an area damaged by water leakage from an
upstairs shower. It worked really well, and the patch virtually
disappeared once the whole ceiling was repainted.

Mind you, the original in my case was a random stipple rather than a
distinct pattern, which I was able to reproduce it by using a wet
sponge; if it had been a carefully-patterned ceiling it would have
been a lot tricker.

--
Cheers,
Harvey

I have since spoken to a professional plasterer who told me that
it is almost impossible to 'patch in' artex and achieve an invisible
repair.
So there you have it. I would strongly advise buying a pack of
powdered
artex - it's easy to mix and you will have plenty left over if you
have to
have several tries!

Kev

Fortunately, the edges of the ceiling do not have an artex pattern.
There is a plain band around 2 ins. wide.
As I understand it, I should be able to buy some artex, ready-made or
otherwise, sand the offending areas down and just "paint over" with
artex. I could then emulsion the whole ceiling, if the new patch was
too bright.

Bruce

On Fri, 04 Feb 2005 06:10:33 -0800, bruce_phipp wrote:

Fortunately, the edges of the ceiling do not have an artex pattern.
There is a plain band around 2 ins. wide.
As I understand it, I should be able to buy some artex, ready-made or
otherwise, sand the offending areas down and just "paint over" with
artex. I could then emulsion the whole ceiling, if the new patch was
too bright.

Bruce

Ah - that was exactly like my flat. I would think that would be quite easy
to get a decent result in that one case :)

Timbo

Tim wrote:

Yes - you can tubs of ready mixed artex. You have little chance of getting
100% blend into the original pattern, but if you've only damaged the bit
round the edge then with a bit of fiddling you should get a good enough
result. If it doesn't go as well as you hoped, I suppose you could
probably over-artex the whole ceiling to get a consistent result.

Failing that, stick coving round the edge to hide it!

--
Cheers,

John.

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wrote in message
ups.com...
I have since spoken to a professional plasterer who told me that
it is almost impossible to 'patch in' artex and achieve an invisible
repair.
So there you have it. I would strongly advise buying a pack of
powdered
artex - it's easy to mix and you will have plenty left over if you
have to
have several tries!

Kev

Fortunately, the edges of the ceiling do not have an artex pattern.
There is a plain band around 2 ins. wide.
As I understand it, I should be able to buy some artex, ready-made or
otherwise, sand the offending areas down and just "paint over" with
artex. I could then emulsion the whole ceiling, if the new patch was
too bright.

Ah - right. I misunderstood!

Kev

Uno Hoo! wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

Can artex be bought in small pots? I gather it is like thick paint
which can be brushed on...

smooth strip right across the width of the ceiling. I originally bought a
small tub of pre-mixed artex and a proper artex stippling brush. I found the
stuff incredibly difficult to work with, however, and the finished job
looked nothing like the rest of the ceiling! I decided to scrape the repair
off and try again. This time I bought a bag of powder artex which contained
about four times as much as the pre-mix tub but cost around the same!

My only dealings with Artex et al are when I find myself trying to get
rid of the bloody stuff; however IIRC aren't the powdered stuff and
readimix gunk actually fundamentally different, ie a cementitious
material vs a textured paint type stuff? I suspect the results will be
very different for that reason.

David

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
Uno Hoo! wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

Can artex be bought in small pots? I gather it is like thick paint
which can be brushed on...

smooth strip right across the width of the ceiling. I originally bought a
small tub of pre-mixed artex and a proper artex stippling brush. I found
the stuff incredibly difficult to work with, however, and the finished
job looked nothing like the rest of the ceiling! I decided to scrape the
repair off and try again. This time I bought a bag of powder artex which
contained about four times as much as the pre-mix tub but cost around the
same!

My only dealings with Artex et al are when I find myself trying to get rid
of the bloody stuff; however IIRC aren't the powdered stuff and readimix
gunk actually fundamentally different, ie a cementitious material vs a
textured paint type stuff? I suspect the results will be very different
for that reason.

Whether or not they have different 'ingredients' I don't know - all I can
say is that when mixed up, the powder Artex was identical in texture and
consistency to the pre-mixed stuff. I was expecting it to be 'gloopy' so
that the bristles on the stippling brush would 'draw' the painted-on mix
into the familiar 'spikes'. In fact the mix (both pre-mixed and powder mixed
correctly) is very thick and does not 'draw' at all as you might expect it
to. To begin with, I found that dabbing at the surface with the stippling
brush merely left indentations in the smooth surface - it didn't draw out
into spikes at all! After much practice I found that you really have to
'push' the bristles into the mix on the ceiling and then 'draw' it not too
quickly. I suppose it's like plastering in general - it just takes a while
to get the hang of it. Unfortunately I did not have anyone experienced with
Artex to give me guidance!

Kev