surveyor found a broken asbestos pipe in roof space

coreservers · 2 Jun 2008

We are about to buy a house, and the surveyor found the remains of a duct or pipe that must've led to a boiler. He is sure it's asbestos, but has been broken. So wouldn't go near it.
Anyone got any ideas of costs and problems in removing this item?

twgas · 2 Jun 2008

IMHO best advice is get current owner to have it tested. if its asbestos they need to get it removed by a licensed company who will then issue a clean air certificate. If its not there's not a problem

oilman · 2 Jun 2008

It's almost certainly white asbestos cement. Low hazard. All you need to do is identify it as such, then dampen it bag it in plastic, and ring the council for info as to where to dispose of it.

coreservers · 2 Jun 2008

my next question would be then, how to identify it. Can you buy a kit?

ChrisR · 2 Jun 2008

Steady oilman it might be an asbestos INSULATED pipe - much worse.

oilman · 2 Jun 2008

Oops! you could be right, I was thinking flue.

Blasphemous · 2 Jun 2008

As the thread suggests this 'could' be nasty. Do as twgas says...

twgas said:
IMHO best advice is get current owner to have it tested. if its asbestos they need to get it removed by a licensed company who will then issue a clean air certificate. If its not there's not a problem

You could take it on yourself but you may end up with a hefty bill!

Agile · 2 Jun 2008

It all depends on exactly what it is!

In reality its almost certain to be asbestos cement which can be removed by a householder in most cases.

Most of this just goes into the skip in London ! I lose jobs allt he time wehn I tell people to get it removed before I start work. All the others just get rid of it themselves.

However, to absolve yourself of any problem just ask the vendor's solicitor to get it removed before you move in. His solicitor, fearing repercussions, will probably ensures its sorted out properly.

I once discovered nasty asbestos lagging on 10" pipes and the first quote to remove it was about £11k and it delayed the renovations for about four weeks!

Tony

Gasguru · 3 Jun 2008

Contact this lot...you get a instructions on taking the sample and a nice jiffy bag to send it back to them for analysis....used to be around £15.00

Square Root Limited
Windmill Road
Croydon. CR0 2XQ
Tel: 020 8665 4200102-115
e-mail: [email protected]

coreservers · 3 Jun 2008

AS this house is ex local authority. should they not have removed asbestos whilst it was under their remit so to speak. it's only been privately owned for 2 years?

Fluffster · 3 Jun 2008

If it is ex local authority they will have an asbsetos register which will tell you the location and hopefully type it is.
Give them a bell.
Pete

Agile · 3 Jun 2008

coreservers said:
AS this house is ex local authority. should they not have removed asbestos whilst it was under their remit so to speak. it's only been privately owned for 2 years?

Few LAs will remove asbestos when its the low risk types.

I have never even heard of them even advising the purchasor that the property contains asbestos! But "Duty of Care" comes to mind and a hoseholder could always try to sue the LA in the hope they may pay to remove it. However, as its probably very low risk I dont see that its any real problem.

There is no law to require them or any other owner to remove asbestos.

Tony

coreservers · 7 Jun 2008

The district council's analysis has come back, adn it states the cement sheet present contains Chrysotile (white) amosite (brown) and crococilite (blue)
The lagging he also found contains Chrysotile.
A little more dangerous than we thought. the cement sheet is also broken and "fiborus"

Agile · 8 Jun 2008

How did you get the LA to test it?

Whats your position re the purchase?

Did you take my advice?

Tony

coreservers · 9 Jun 2008

Hi Agile.
we've withdrawn from the sale as it's just going to cost too much, and we don't know what else will turn up.
We phoned the la for the asbestos register, and the scientist in charge offered to do the survey, as he's currently doing major work on the register. he's now given us a written signed report.
although he couldn't and wouldn't reccomend any licensed firms, he thought it'd cost around £5000 as there is fibrous brown and blue present

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surveyor found a broken asbestos pipe in roof space

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