DIY Artex removal vs hiring a professional: risks, costs and results

Updated 6 November 2026 · By the Artex Removal team

Short answer: DIY is realistic for painting over Artex, taking a test sample with a home kit, or softening and wet-scraping a small area of coating that has tested negative. Skimming a ceiling to a flat finish is a skilled job that most people cannot do well first time. Never sand or dry-scrape a coating that has not been tested, and leave asbestos-positive removal to trained operatives.

DIY Artex removal vs hiring a professional: risks, costs and results

What you can safely do yourself

Paint over Artex to freshen it up, using a long-pile roller
Take a sample for testing with a home kit, following its instructions
Remove a coating that has tested negative using steam or gel and wet scraping
Fill and sand small repairs on a negative coating, with dust control
Prepare the room by clearing, sheeting and masking before a plasterer arrives

What is best left to a professional

Skimming a ceiling flat, which needs practised trowel work over a large area
Any work on a coating that has tested positive for asbestos
Stairwells and high ceilings that need staging
Repairs to sagging or loose plasterboard
Overboarding with new plasterboard

Plastering a ceiling is one of the hardest plastering tasks. The plaster sets on a fixed timetable, you are working overhead, and any ridges or trowel marks show up badly once it is painted.

The asbestos risk

Most Artex that is tested comes back negative, but a significant proportion of older coatings do contain chrysotile. Sanding, dry scraping, wire brushing and power tools are the methods most likely to release fibres. If the coating has not been tested, do not do any of these. If it has tested positive and you want it gone, encapsulation by a skim is the safest route.

A standard dust mask from a DIY shop does not give adequate protection against asbestos fibres. HSE guidance for work on textured coatings calls for respiratory protection of at least FFP3 standard, properly fitted, along with disposable overalls and careful clean-up. If you are not prepared to work to that standard, do not disturb an untested or positive coating at all.

Cost comparison

Approach	Typical cost for one bedroom ceiling	Trade-off
Paint over yourself	£30 to £60 in materials	Texture stays
DIY removal of a negative coating	£50 to £150 in steamer or gel and materials	Slow, messy and still needs a skim
DIY skim	£40 to £80 in plaster and tools	High risk of an uneven finish
Professional skim	£300 to £550	Flat finish in a day
Professional removal and skim	Higher, often per square metre	Coating gone completely

These are typical guide figures. Tool hire and redoing a poor DIY finish can quickly erase the saving.

If you do remove it yourself

Be realistic about the time involved. Softening and scraping a single bedroom ceiling by hand can take a full weekend or more for a first-timer, and the result is a marked surface that still needs a professional skim to look smooth. For many people that makes DIY removal a false economy unless the coating has to come off for another reason.

Get the test result back first and only proceed if it is negative
Seal the room with plastic sheeting and tape the doorway
Soften the coating with steam or a gel stripper, following the product instructions
Scrape while damp and bag the waste as you go
Wear eye protection, gloves and a suitable mask
Expect the board underneath to need filling or skimming afterwards

Making the decision

If your goal is a smooth, modern ceiling, the professional skim is usually the most cost-effective route, because it avoids the slow removal step entirely and gives a finish that is hard to match by hand. DIY makes most sense where you only need to paint, or where a small area of negative coating has to come off for another job.

A sensible middle ground is to do the preparation yourself and pay for the skilled part. Clearing the room, taking the test sample, arranging the electrician and handling the mist coat and decorating afterwards can all reduce the time a plasterer needs on site, without risking the finish.

Painting over Artex well

If you decide to live with the texture for now, a good paint job makes a big difference. Artex soaks up paint and its peaks and hollows make even coverage hard, so the technique is different from painting a flat ceiling.

Brush away cobwebs and dust first, using a soft brush or vacuum attachment rather than scraping
Wash off nicotine or grease stains with sugar soap and let it dry
Spot-prime water stains with a stain-blocking primer
Use a long-pile or textured roller to reach into the pattern
Cut in around the edges with a brush, working paint into the texture
Apply two coats of matt emulsion, which hides imperfections better than silk

Painting over Artex does not disturb it and is a form of encapsulation, so it is safe even if the coating contains asbestos, as long as you do not sand or scrape it first. It also keeps your options open: a painted Artex ceiling can still be skimmed later.