Artex was fitted on ceilings across huge numbers of British homes from the 1970s through the 1990s, and a lot of it is still there today. For anyone planning to remove it, redecorate around it, or replaster a ceiling underneath it, the question of whether it might contain asbestos has to be dealt with properly before any tools come out.
Why artex can contain asbestos
Some artex and textured coating products manufactured before 1999, when the use of white asbestos (chrysotile) in such products was banned in the UK, had small amounts of asbestos fibre mixed into the material to help with texture and durability. Not every artex ceiling from this period contains it, and plenty don’t, but there’s no way to tell which is which just by looking, touching, or considering the age of the property. A ceiling could have been artexed at any point across several decades, and different manufacturers used different formulations.
The only reliable way to know: testing
Because visual inspection can’t confirm anything either way, the responsible approach is to have a small sample of the material tested by a UKAS-accredited laboratory before any work that would disturb it. This is a straightforward, well-established process, and it removes the guesswork entirely. Either the ceiling tests clear or it doesn’t, and the next steps follow from that result rather than from assumption.
Why disturbance is the real risk
Undisturbed asbestos-containing material sitting quietly on a ceiling is generally considered a lower risk than the same material once it’s sanded, scraped, drilled, or broken up. The danger comes from fibres becoming airborne and being inhaled, which is why the guidance around artex focuses so heavily on what happens before any physical work begins, rather than on the mere presence of the material. This is also why simply leaving an untested, undisturbed ceiling alone is sometimes a reasonable short-term choice, while any plan to sand it back, remove it, or drill into it changes the picture completely.
What happens if asbestos is confirmed
If testing confirms asbestos is present, the material needs to be removed by a licensed asbestos removal contractor, working within the relevant health and safety regulations that govern this kind of work in the UK. This isn’t a job for a general plasterer, builder or decorator without that specific licence. It’s a legal requirement, and it exists because improperly disturbed asbestos-containing material poses a genuine health risk. Once the licensed specialist has completed the removal and confirmed the area is clear, the ceiling is safe to work on normally.
What happens if the test comes back clear
Where testing shows no asbestos is present, the artex can be dealt with using standard methods: removed and the ceiling replastered to a smooth finish, or overboarded with new plasterboard fixed directly over the top. Overboarding is often chosen specifically because it avoids disturbing the existing surface at all, which can be a sensible, lower-disruption option even on a ceiling that’s already tested clear.
The practical takeaway
Test before you touch it. That one step separates a routine ceiling job from a situation that needs a licensed specialist, and it’s far simpler to arrange testing upfront than to deal with the consequences of having disturbed asbestos-containing material without realising it.
