The entire of my bathroom is covered in artex and I'm planning on tiling over all of this—the entire room, not just the bath/shower area. The texture of the artex is very slight and 90% is only =< 1mm. A few areas are about 2mm but no more than that.
The general consensus seems to be not to tile over artex at all. I should either remove the stuff or board over it.
The artex is pretty old so I'm worried it may be asbestos based and I don't really want to try removing it or sanding it down—it sounds like a horrible job regardless of any asbestos.
Having to board over it with aquaboard or something similar will probably mean having to move the bath etc and I'm limited on time and budget so if possible tiling directly over the artex will be much easier for me.
Although the general consensus seems to be not to tile over the artex, I have seen people suggest it should be ok if the texture is less than around 2mm (including the guy at one of my local tile shops). Others seem to say the artex bonding may not be enough to hold the tiles and I'll end up with the tiles and artex falling off the wall.
Can I tile over the artex? If not—what's the quickest and easiest way to get rid of it?
Best Answer
It's basically plaster, so unless it has a bunch of water damage or hollow spots, which you should easily hear by running your hand over the surface. I'd go with tiling over it, since the bond is just as good as plaster & people tile over that daily.
However, not knowing its porosity you should first apply a Thin-set Bonding Agent. The Artex or similar product has lasted this long in a wet environment, so I think it's proven itself extremely well. What you may not realize is that your plasterboard behind the Artex also quite likely contains asbestos. So, leave well enough alone & finally add a locking layer that doesn't have asbestos.