asbestos

hi
I have just moved in to a flat, and above the airing cupboard is a yellow sticker saying danger asbestos. rang landlord today who says the levels are safe, but there was a small amount of asbestos in the floor tiles in the hall. The floor tiles though are not just in the hall but in every room.

In the hall the floor is partly hollow with the top tiles placed back. In the bedroom two of the floor tiles have been replaced with boards, again its hollow under there.

there are other flats in the row, I wonder if the other residents know as they will have probably have the same type of floor, they were all built at the same time. I am very worried and have to move in tonight. on the wall are radiators which have warm air blowing through (double radiator with grill). any advice thanks

A phone call to the local health officer, outlining your fears, they will probably send someone round to evaluate the problem.
Did the landlord mention this before you took out the lease?

Wotan

If the asbestos is in good condition and solid, it shouldn't pose any risk to you. Only if it gets damaged would it be a risk

Hi
Thanks for your replies, No they didn't mention it when I signed the lease. However I did look around it before hand and missed the yellow sticker.

I found a company that does tests and I am ringing the environmental health tomorrow. There is also also a bit of info on the WHO.

Just leave find somewhere else

I wish it were that simple, honest I think I may have been exposed to it yesterday with dust around the edges of the room, every one thinks I am being daft which is such so diabolical to have put up with.

No, being concerned is is not being daft.

Mesothelioma is no joke. This said, Phatboy is correct in saying that unless disturbed ( Cut/sawn/drilled etc) the tiles pose you little risk.

In calling in environmental health to assess you are acting wisely.

There were terrible problems associated with asbestos manufacture and installation. Some of the newspapers and telly programmes have scare-mongered about this. If the material in your flat is not being cut or drilled or broken up as in a demolition job, then you have little to worry about. Worrying about it is worse for you! These stories are about the same as the beef scares - there is nothing to worry about. Do you smoke? If so, that is far worse for you.

The fact that Asbestos warning signs are fixed is a good sign, it indicates that your Landlord has acted responsibly and had an Asbestos Survey carried out, as long as the ACM's (asbestos containing materials) are not damaged they pose no risk however you must never drill into or break up ACM's without proper training and PPE

There is Asbestos in - Toilet Seats, Artex wall/Ceiling coatings, Marley floor tiles, wall boards, old type boilers, air heaters Night storage heaters
in other words - JUST ABOUT EVERY WHERE!! (Asbestos was known as the "wonder" product!!)

hi
landlord kindly removed all tiles using a good company, underneath, I am left with a bitumin type covering over cement. Looking at the work done it says - removal of thermoplastic floor tiles. I havent been able to see a proper copy of the asbestos report for the property and cant be sure whether the asbestos was in the tiles or the cement! I know there is asbestos in the cupboard which is sealed in. And although the tiles are also in the bathroom they are underneath lino, I asked if they would remove them but it wasn't specified on the job description so they couldn't.

am I alright to put wooden floor over the bitumin stuff?

mysteryman said:

There were terrible problems associated with asbestos manufacture and installation. Some of the newspapers and telly programmes have scare-mongered about this.

Click to expand...

I think the telly programs have been correct in that workers continually exposed to asbestos as part of their jobs were at particular risk, and also their wives as they washed their clothes, and finally, whole groups of households near to (unfiltered) air extraction outlets used by the factories. I've seen less evidence that people are dropping dead just because their houses have it, or because of a bit of DIY they did 20 years ago. Some evidence suggests plumbers die younger than other trades and this is due to crawling around in asbestos-filled confined spaces, however it's just as likely due to breathing in lead/flux fumes without any protective equipment whatsoever.

The one thing that you have to do with asbestos is leave it alone unless there is no alternative. The OP is a very good example of someone panicking about nothing and actually making the situation more dangerous for him/herself. When this 'good company' came and took tiles away no doubt they used protective equipment, but did they flush all the air out of the property to ensure any particles were removed? If so how? Did they have a large, scary looking vacuum cleaner with 'Type H' written on it and can you be sure it sucked up all the particles when they lifted the tiles? I can imagine that would be fiddly in all that protective gear, but of course, willowy wouldn't be watching (if he/she had any sense), so the 'good company' would perform a risk assessment, and decide none of that was necessary given the nature of the materials and just get on with it. Nobody would know any different for a good 20 years anyhow.

So that act alone has probably resulted in the OP breathing in fibres where previously there weren't any because the previous occupants have taken any loose ones either into their lungs, into their vacuum cleaner, or trampled them outside on their shoes into the big wide world.

As for willowy, lay your wooden floor and just forget about it!

Simon.

PS: Aparently my local council recycling place will take asbestos, so long as it's wrapped up and clearly marked. Strictly speaking there's a bit of difference between a P3 filter and a bit of black bin liner but that doesn't seem to worry them.

When a child 8-12yrs old, i smashed loads of asbestas garages that where coming down, we burnt the asbestus so it blew up 80 metres in the air showering us kids with it. Im 51 and have no probs to date, don't worry..

I know people who worked most of their life in this industry and i see them regularly.

hi
shocked now, no they definately did not have a vacum with H1 but they damped everything and no I didn't watch, so I dont also know if they removed things before hand either meaning I have to probably get rid of my bed and wear a mask while doing it. hopefully the rooms will be ok for the next tenants down the line. you are right though removing the carpet grippers i disturbed the tiles, and caused dust which I ended up breathing in.

That dust was not necessarily asbestos. You probably made most of the dust yourself. It's mostly dead skin which we all give off all the time.

if the sign was above the airing cupboard, surely it is much more likely to relate to old asbestos insulation, especially round hot pipes.

Do you line in a tower block, or an old building that has been converted to flats?

The plastic floor tiles are less likely to have been the risky item, as they don't make dust.

I wonder what could be done to find out who put that sign up, and why?