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Smoothop

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Hi,
Have lurked here and read lots of tips (thanks). First posting as hoping to benefit from some good advice.
Bought first house with artex ceilings 6 months ago & they had to go - read around the net for a solution on a budget and after reading the poor reviews of XTex/Smoothover etc - Scraping and skimming seemed the best & cheapest option.
Pretty good DIY'er but never plastered before so did 7 week evening course at local college and quite impressed at results. Come back to the house to crack on with the ceilings & having really difficulty getting a good finish and have only done two of the smaller rooms so far. I'm using WBA as I've read good things on here about it. In the course skimming ceilings onto board I was getting a finish I was happy with.
I've uploaded a couple of pics of the worst areas of my poor finishing - ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting. & ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting.

So hoping someone can answer the following:
1. Is skimming an artex ceiling a lot harder than a boarded ceiling?
2. Any tips to improve finish - is it just a case of practicing?
3. Have just started easifilling and sanded bad bits & think I would prefer to have another go - WBA and 2 coats of Multi again?
4. Can I split ceilings when I start on bigger rooms with stop bead or scrim?

Advice greatly appreciated!

Thanks
 
yes skimming over artex is harder than a nice flat smooth board. they do say practice makes perfect in any thing you choose to do.when ever i over skim artex always give good scrape to get rid of high points if you have the time paint with thistle bond it leave overnight and skim next day. if time is a issue two to three good coats of pva and skim whilst still tacky.if you put plenty pva on might help slow finish down a bit give you bit more time to get agood finish.splitting ceilings is not easy to do dont split with bead just try blend joint together just have patience dont take on anything too big or get a spread in ....good luck....
 
yes harder to skim over artex ,

i would board over artex ceilings (easier for you to skim too)

that said, ceilings for a newbie are hard work anyway...


welcome to the forum ,
 
Aah so you've lurked since march, stealing our advice without giving any input and now you can't find your answer you've decided to post. Welcome.
 
Thanks for the replies - will give overboarding some thought.
For bonding plaster what's the process? - Scrape, then pva/wba, one coat of bonding - wait for it to dry, then more pva/wba, then 2 coats of multi?

Beddy - I know shameless - at least I admitted it :RpS_biggrin: Hopefully any answers to my questions will help other newbies & I may be able to contribute in future.
 
Smoothop said:
Thanks for the replies - will give overboarding some thought.
For bonding plaster what's the process? - Scrape, then pva/wba, one coat of bonding - wait for it to dry, then more pva/wba, then 2 coats of multi?

Beddy - I know shameless - at least I admitted it :RpS_biggrin: Hopefully any answers to my questions will help other newbies & I may be able to contribute in future.
Click to expand...
just skim the bonding when set
 
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