Scraping Artex Ceilings - safe or not?

Only need to remove the high points from the artex, then pva at 4 or 5 to 1 paint artex allow to dry, apply 2nd coat let go tacky & skim, will most likely need two coats, it took 2 coats here to completely cover the artex in kitchen.

Other ways is to overboard & skim, or rip the lot down & reboard & skim, taking percautions with the dust & mess due to the asbestos.

 

I've dealt with asbestos removers before, if it's on plasterboard it's cheaper to poly off the ceiling and drop it from above (floor boards above up and go). Scraping is tedious and time is money. You can get artex removing poltice type stuff you stick on, wait and then scrape. It could be worth investigating for a sample area

 

As Kiab says empty the room, wet the ceiling down, get a long handled floor scraper (like this http://www.screwfix.com/p/spear-jackson-floor-scraper/46108) put on a face mask and knock off the high spots, hoover up and skim.

I got stuck on a job over an easter bank holiday and had to use ready made dry wall filler, it skimmed over the ceiling really well, painted then papered, six years on it is still good and takes a pounding from the kids bedroom above

 

Do NOT hoover up asbestos. You need a HEPA type hoover for this. In fact, I would not advocate uncontrolled scraping of asbestos.

Asbestos is hydrophobic so straight up water to wet is of no use.

Be careful, it's a lower risk product but you need to be careful still. Google HSE Asbestos Essentials , artex

 

I'd be very careful with it,asbestos dust can hang about for years and it's very difficult to remove completely.If it went wrong you could potentially contaminate EVERYTHING in the house,furniture,clothes,toys etc! as someone else said,a standard hoover is worse than useless,it can actually spread the dust further,it's safe if undisturbed but start messing with it and that's where you could be opening up a can of worms.