Asbestos soffit covered with UPVC. Should I be concerned

[dssr]

Can anyone advise on the following?

Asbestos soffit at A covered with UPVC. There does not appear to be any fixings directly into the asbestos as the UPVC seems to be slotted into some form of wall clip.

However, is B asbestos, and is the UPVC facia covering more asbestos at C.

More importantly, is this a recognised way of installing UPVC soffits, or is there a substantial health hazard.

Many Thanks

 

[23vc]

B may be asbestos or cement board but that doesn’t matter, it’s the undercloak and nowt to do with the fascia and soffits.

The fascia (C) is unlikely to be asbestos and more likely timber.

Whole thing looks a bit wrong anyway as you’d normally form some kind of box end to marry it all up (Google images of it).

capping over asbestos soffits with upvc is done all the time and pretty standard.

 

[^woody^]

P perfectly normal, and N nothing to be concerned about, but G gutter needs cleaning as do the other R roofline products there.

 

[dssr]

@23vc Many thanks. None of the properties in the street are finished with a box end. They all look the same as mine.

@^woody^ Excellent, and yes all the plastics need a good clean down. It's on the growing list of things I don't want to do, but have no choice


As a point of interest, two people in the street were charged nearly £9k to have it removed. Poly tunnels, showers and men in space suits were apparently pulling all the soffits down. Well to be precise, 60% of it, they left areas that couldn't be seen. The previous owner of this property appears lucky to have had it covered over.

 

[noseall]

The previous owner of this property appears lucky to have had it covered over.

Luckily there are currently several million tonnes of uncovered asbestos in homes near you. That includes your cloak.

 

[dssr]

Luckily there are currently several million tonnes of uncovered asbestos in homes near you. That includes your cloak.

Lots of work for spaceman who take showers outdoors. On a more serious note, how is this going to be addressed and at what cost. Moreover, once that last tonne is removed, what is the next dangerous material to be identified and the whole process starts again?

The point I was making in my last post, is these people were conned. The workman wore the gear, looked like they knew what they were doing to justify £9k, but only removed part of it, and illegally dumped the rest.

 

[noseall]

The point I was making in my last post, is these people were conned. The workman wore the gear, looked like they knew what they were doing to justify £9k, but only removed part of it, and illegally dumped the rest.

We piled up a load of unbroken sheets of asbestos and rang a company to collect and ticket the load. They didn't charge as much as it was just removal from site. The bloke arrived and threw the lot (unbagged) into the back of his Merc van, breaking some it...."we only worry about the blue stuff" he says.

 

[dssr]

We piled up a load of unbroken sheets of asbestos and rang a company to collect and ticket the load. They didn't charge as much as it was just removal from site. The bloke arrived and threw the lot (unbagged) into the back of his Merc van, breaking some it...."we only worry about the blue stuff" he says.

As someone who has gone through cancer twice and lost close family members to the condition, I hope for their sake they don't experience what its like to fight for every single intake of air. I don't go near any cutting, grinding or hole making machine these days without wearing masks, googles, welding gloves and thermals (if its cold outside). We're critical of H&S rules and procedure, but ultimately its their for a reason (well in most cases!).

 

[pilsbury]

That asbestos cement board doesn’t contain as much asbestos as the old lagging does. Plus the fibres are bound in cement type stuff and won’t become free and respirable. Will be perfectly safe just sitting there. Unless you drill or sand it. Just make sure you or anyone working up there knows about it so they don’t cut, drill etc.

 

[^woody^]

There are ways for ACM to be managed which may or may not require removal. It's all down to the specific individual risk assessment of firms - one firm may say "remove" and another say "remain" and neither would be wrong, but both could be right.

Further, there are ways to safely drill though some ACM, or otherwise work on it.

If encapsulated (ie hidden) there should be some form of warning those who may work in that area in the future. In a work environment there would be labels and signage, not practical at home, so the onus would be on the homeowner to warn anyone, but equally there would be an onus on any person planning to work in an area that may contain ACM to require the client/homeowner to prepare a suitable asbestos survey report, and for all persons to be suitably trained in asbestos awareness regardless.