Artex

Artex is the brand name most closely associated with textured decorative coatings in the United Kingdom. First produced in the 1930s, Artex became enormously popular during the 1960s and 1970s as a way to create decorative stippled, swirled, or patterned finishes on ceilings and walls. The name became so widespread that "Artex" is now used generically in British English to describe any textured coating, regardless of the actual manufacturer.

Until approximately 1984, Artex formulations contained chrysotile (white asbestos), typically at concentrations between 1% and 5% by weight. The asbestos was added to improve the working properties of the compound and to reinforce the finished coating. Millions of British homes built or refurbished between the 1960s and mid-1980s are likely to have Artex or similar textured coatings containing asbestos.

While Artex-type coatings are classified as non-friable and pose minimal risk when left undisturbed and in good condition, they become hazardous during renovation work. Sanding, scraping, drilling, or removing textured coatings releases fine chrysotile fibers into the air. Many DIY homeowners have unknowingly disturbed asbestos-containing Artex during home improvement projects.

Artex Ltd (now part of Saint-Gobain) reformulated its products to exclude asbestos in the mid-1980s. However, there is no visual method to determine whether a specific Artex coating contains asbestos — only laboratory analysis of a sample can confirm. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in the UK advises that any textured coating applied before 1985 should be presumed to contain asbestos.

Management options include leaving the coating in place (if undisturbed), overboarding with new plasterboard, encapsulation with PVA sealant, or professional removal by a licensed contractor. Skim-coating over Artex has become a popular renovation technique, but the underlying asbestos-containing layer must be managed properly if it is ever disturbed in the future.