Does Artex contain asbestos?

Textured ceiling and wall coatings are a familiar feature of older British homes, and "Artex" is the brand name that became the generic term for them. Whether yours contains asbestos depends largely on when it was applied. Here is what is known, and how to handle it sensibly.

Why older Artex may contain asbestos

Artex is a brand of textured surface coating that was hugely popular in the UK from the 1960s through to the 1980s, used to create patterned ceilings and walls and to hide imperfections in the surface beneath. For much of that period, manufacturers added chrysotile (white asbestos) to the mix. The asbestos acted as a binder and reinforcing fibre, helping the wet coating hold a stippled, swirled or fanned texture as it set.

The proportion of asbestos in a textured coating was generally small — frequently only a few per cent — which is far less than in materials like asbestos insulating board. That low content means the day-to-day risk from an intact, undisturbed coating is low. The hazard arises when the material is broken up: asbestos is dangerous when its fibres become airborne and are inhaled, and a textured coating can release fibres if it is sanded, scraped, drilled, sawn or smashed.

Asbestos was progressively removed from these products through the 1980s, and the final UK ban on chrysotile came into force in 1999. As a practical rule of thumb, textured coatings applied before 2000 should be treated as potentially containing asbestos until proven otherwise, while coatings known to have been applied after 2000 are very unlikely to contain it.

You cannot tell by looking — why testing matters

It is a common and dangerous assumption that you can identify asbestos-containing Artex by its appearance, age or feel. You cannot. A swirled ceiling in a 1970s house and a near-identical swirled ceiling in a 2010 extension may look the same and behave the same to the eye, but one may contain chrysotile and the other will not. Pattern, colour and texture tell you nothing reliable about asbestos content.

The only way to know for certain is a laboratory analysis of a representative sample. In the UK this is done by a UKAS-accredited asbestos testing laboratory. Many homeowners use a sampling kit or, more safely, instruct a qualified asbestos surveyor to take the sample, because taking a sample is itself a disturbance that can release fibres if done carelessly. The sample is small — a coin-sized fragment is usually enough — and the lab confirms whether any asbestos is present and what type.

If you are buying or renovating an older property and planning work that will touch a textured ceiling — taking it down, overboarding, fitting downlights, or skimming over it — a test result removes the guesswork and lets you plan the job safely and legally.

What to do if your Artex does contain asbestos

A positive test does not mean the ceiling must come down or that your home is unsafe to live in. Asbestos in good condition, left undisturbed and sealed under paint, presents a low risk. The risk is created by disturbance. Your options usually include:

• Leave it in place and manage it. An intact, painted textured coating can often stay where it is. Avoid drilling, sanding or scraping it. If it is damaged, the damaged area can be sealed.
• Cover it over. Overboarding with plasterboard, or having a competent plasterer skim over a sound, stable coating using appropriate methods, encapsulates the asbestos without breaking it up. This is a common and pragmatic approach.
• Have it removed. Removal of textured coatings containing asbestos in England, Scotland and Wales is regulated under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. Some textured-coating removal does not require a licensed contractor, but it must still be done by a competent person using proper controls (wetting, sheeting, RPE, controlled waste disposal). Where the work is more extensive or the material is friable, a licensed asbestos contractor is required.

Because the rules turn on the type, condition and extent of the material, the safe route is to get the coating tested first and then take advice from a qualified asbestos professional on which of these options applies.

Which homes are most likely to have asbestos Artex

The strongest predictor is the date the coating was applied, not the date the house was built. A Victorian or Edwardian house re-decorated with textured coating in the 1970s can have asbestos Artex, while a 1970s house re-skimmed in 2015 will not. Common situations where asbestos textured coatings are found in UK homes include:

• Ceilings textured during the popular Artex era of the 1960s to early 1980s, especially in hallways, living rooms and bedrooms.
• Older council and ex-local-authority housing, where textured coatings were widely used.
• Walls as well as ceilings — textured coatings were sometimes applied to walls, dado areas and around fireplaces.
• Coatings layered over older lath-and-plaster or earlier plaster surfaces in period properties.

If you genuinely do not know when a textured coating was applied and the house pre-dates 2000, treat it as suspect and test before any work. The cost of a single sample test is modest compared with the cost — and the health consequences — of disturbing asbestos without knowing it was there.

Frequently asked questions

Sources & further reading

• HSE — Asbestos: textured decorative coatings (Artex)
• HSE — Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012
• Asbestos Information CDM — asbestos in the home guidance

Figures on this page are typical UK ranges drawn from published sources and depend on your specific room. They are guidance, not a quotation.