Cost guide
How much do artex and textured ceilings cost?
Overboarding and skimming a textured ceiling costs £380 to £700. Skimming directly over a shallow sound texture is £280 to £500. An asbestos sample test is £30 to £60 per sample and worth doing before anything else.
Typical prices
Ranges, not quotes. A quote depends on your room.
| Work | Typical UK price |
|---|---|
| Skim over a sound shallow texture | £280 to £500 |
| Overboard and skim an average ceiling | £380 to £700 |
| Asbestos sample test, per sample | £30 to £60 |
| Licensed removal, specialist contractor | quoted per job |
| Whole house of textured ceilings | £1,800 to £4,000 |
Test before you decide, not after. A sample costs less than an hour of anybody's labour and it changes which of the three routes is even available.
What moves the price
- Whether it is skimmed over, boarded over or removed. Removal is by far the most expensive of the three.
- How deep the texture is. A heavy swirl has to be knocked back or boarded rather than skimmed.
- Whether a test has been done, and what it said.
- Ceiling size, height and how much furniture has to come out of the room.
- Whether there is coving to work into, which adds an edge detail to every perimeter.
What the money buys: overboarding a textured ceiling and skimming it flat.
Who quotes for it
Questions about artex and textured ceilings
Can you skim over Artex?
Often, if the texture is shallow and the surface is sound and well stuck. A heavy swirl has too much relief to bury in three millimetres of finish. Either way the plasterer should be bonding it rather than knocking the peaks off with abrasive.
What does it cost to remove Artex from a whole house?
Overboarding and skimming every ceiling in a three bedroom house is roughly £1,800 to £4,000. Actual removal, by a contractor working to the asbestos rules, is quoted per job and is a different order of cost.
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