Almost all textured ceilings that were sprayed prior to 1983 contained asbestos, and after that date asbestos ceased to be used. We used to charge our texture removals the same whether containing asbestos or not. With the new laws that have come into force from early April 2016 we now have to differentiate and charge considerably more for the removal of a job that contains asbestos in the formula.

If the proper procedures are carried out, the texture can be removed extremely safely. We isolate the area with plastic sheets and thoroughly wet the texture being removed. This makes for quicker removal as well as eliminating dust, making the job much safer. Our present supervisors have had years with us removing textured ceilings.

Remove all loose items that are on the top shelves or cabinets and any smaller items of furniture that can be put out of the way. Usually there is no need to remove curtains, or large pieces of furniture, but the emptier the room the easier it is to work and the more quickly the job will be completed. Furniture left in the room is isolated by sealing off with plastic from the work area.
Our sales rep, when inspecting your job, will recommend in helping to keep costs down that you thoroughly vacuum or clean the floors and wipe down any ledges or furniture where texture could have fallen down before we tackle the main job or removal of the texture from the ceiling.

Our contractor will first make sure your room is free of fallen texture prior to starting and if it is not we will have to point this out and clean it up for you. Unfortunately, we will need to charge for doing this as an extra if it is not clean. We will then proceed to isolate the work area from the rest of the room. This is done by plastic sheeting which forms a large bag. All the removal work is carried out from inside that bagged area. The ceilings are thoroughly wet down and scraped off. The contaminated sheets are pulled down leaving clean sheets behind them. The daily sheets and wet texture are all removed from the site and at that stage your ceilings are given a visual test and an air test or swabs. Once that clearance is done, our guys will return and skim if necessary and apply a pigmented seal coat, plus two top coats. They will then be able to remove the sheeting and hand you over your completed job. You will now have a nice newly painted ceiling, with asbestos removed and a clearance certificate to go with it.

If the texture is underneath light fittings, they will need to be removed. The removal and installation of lights will be the responsibility of the home owner. However, in practice we will endeavour to do this work for you, but will need to have removed light fittings such as large chandeliers and fluorescents by an electrician.

When lights are reinstated and because of their age there may be faulty wiring that may be worn etc. and you will need an electrician to repair. These cases of electrical repairs are items that we would charge on, but generally we do not charge for the removal and subsequent installation of putting the lights back.

We use masking tape on the scotias if possible, but this is not always possible. We can only say that when we have to staple to the walls to hold the plastic sheets up and seal plastic up with masking tape, we can sometimes cause damage. The staples do not present too much of a problem as we use only small ones; however, where possible, we avoid stapling to a wooden painted surface. We need to use the staples to take the weight of the plastic. Otherwise, the masking tape cannot be relied on to stay up. We need a proper seal to avoid any texture getting behind our sheets. Usually, masking tape does not cause a problem - but occasionally, it can pull paint off if freshly painted or paint that is loose and lifting.

The biggest problem is wallpaper. Most of the newer wallpapers are no problem and do not lift the paper off when removed, but unfortunately, some older wallpapers will be damaged.

For safety reasons, customers cannot enter the work area once actual texture removal has commenced. An asbestos warning sign is placed outside the entry to the work area and becomes a prohibited area until the clearance is issued. You should plan to be out of the rooms being worked on for the duration of the job. For non-asbestos removal work, we can take the sheets down at night, but this is messy, slows the job down, and generally is not satisfactory. Also, we need to charge extra for this, as it is not included in our standard quotation. This procedure is only practical for an odd room; it is simply not possible to do this for a whole house or many rooms.

Most texturing removal and repainting jobs can be completed within one week if they do not have asbestos, although a large house may take longer. Textures with asbestos will take longer, most jobs take about 8 days. An exact forecast for time on a job is not possible because of variables after the texture is removed. Weather conditions are also a factor because both plaster and paint drying times are significantly dependent upon temperature and humidity. Textural removals only and PVA sealing will obviously be much quicker, although there is still the assessor's clearance to be fitted in.

We give you a separate price to skim-coat your ceilings. Once textures are removed, your contractor will give you his advice on what is required to deliver a surface to meet our high standards for a quality finish. This becomes your choice to accept or turn down his recommendation. We get a small percentage of jobs that do not need a skim. Equally, we get an even smaller percentage where we recommend 2 skims, but by far, the majority of cases is a 1 skim recommendation. The reason is that most ceilings were only 'stopped' for a textured finish, not a painted finish, hence the need to plaster the ceilings to achieve a smooth ceiling finish. We find concrete substrates or hard textures will require a minimum of 3 skim coats to achieve a satisfactory finish after painting and expect longer drying times.