Is this soffit asbestos?

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Gerry101

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Hiya,

made the cardinal mistake of not checking out what my soffit was made of before drilling into it to make a 150mm hole for a vent. Did it from outside at least...and i wasn't directly under it but i did get some debris on my clothes.

I've not been able to find a corresponding picture of anything like what i drilled through, but the age of the last big refurb on the house was late 70s so doesn't bode well.

Stuff was as hard as nails to punch through. Really can't pin down what it is, should have stopped when i realised it wasn't wood but can't change what's happened.

Would like to know what people think thanks. Seem to be a central spine of something in the center onto which the top and the bottom are stuck/compressed, forming the pattern on the top/bottom.

Cheers

//media.diynot.com/219000_218172_77158_66434634_thumb.jpg
//media.diynot.com/219000_218172_77159_43111472_thumb.jpg
//media.diynot.com/219000_218172_77160_81462926_thumb.jpg
//media.diynot.com/219000_218172_77161_83632214_thumb.jpg

Picture quality not great on this site so i've included links to the same photos on photobucket here:-




 
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Looks like it to me. Not too sure how dodgy this stuff is, somebody else more older and knowledgeable than me will know.
 
Quite possibly Chrysotile. Have you started turning green yet and glowing in the dark?

Its done, next time, use shaving foam to collect the dust. There's an HSE leaflet on their site advising how to drill it.
 
Cheers for the replies both of you.

Yeah not started glowing in the dark yet!! I've always been green though. That's normal isn't it?

From what i can tell from my research it's likely to be white asbestos if it's anything, and that's the lower risk stuff (albeit still potentially dangerous). The stuff which you're allowed to remove yourself if you take proper precautions. Drilling is another matter though, i'm just glad i was outside doing it.

It also seems that it's longer term or intense exposure that gets you with this stuff as well, rather than a "one off", however still feel that i've "rolled the dice" with this job whereas i should have been more careful!

Tried looking into Chrysotile but not getting any hits re. an image which looks remotely like this board.

Would be interested to hear any other views as well as the more experience i can draw on here the better. All the asbestos boards or asbestos cement boards (or even that Chrysotile) just don't look anything like the bit i've cut out - with respect to the cross section. Very odd - thought i'd find something similar...
 
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I would say that it is Asbestolux without much doubt really.......its a cemented asbestos sheet that was very commonly used in the construction trade.
It was superceded by a silicon basd board called Superlux which has a shinier surface.
The board you have appears to be laminated because its formed in two halves, squeezed together in a press that gives the mottled finish on one side.
Ok, asbestos isn't the most pleasant stuff in the world, but this is a far cry from the blue asbestos that was used to lag steam pipes and so on. With that, people used to make a cement from powder.
I wouldn't worry about it - after all you didn't sand it and the dust particles would be quite large by comparison. I must confess to cutting this stuff up by the mile in my past, and that was on a circular saw.
John :)
 
Yeah didn't sand it, *just* attacked it with a 150 mil hole cutter.

Thx for the info re the official name. Still can't find a photo that matches the composition of mine but there you go. Don't think i ever will.

Lesson learnt as they say and i can only hope that it's not too bad.

Not going anywhere near the soffits again, and have looked up a few labs local to me so i might drop a sample in for them to test.

On that note this is where i found local testers. Not had time to give them a call yet but will do.

http://www.ukas.org/testing/singlesearch.asp

Hope that's of some help to someone as took me a while to find.

There's a "testing kit" on amazon which looks like it is to be avoided as it's a con. Apparently there's just a plastic baggy in it which you send off and still have to pay the testing charge. Total con so i'd avoid in case you're tempted, and try the link above instead.
Hopefully the labs they list are up to date but until i try i won't know. I'd rather be sure as to what makes up the soffits and facias though.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to post your comments up. This forum seems nice and responsive!
 
That looks like AC (asbestos cement) to me normally smooth on one side and dimpled on the other very hard and brittle if you had to pick an asbestos board to cut that is the lesser of the evils to work on.
I think is is about 5 - 15% asbestos and and is often, but not guaranteed to be mainly chrysotile (White asbestos).

AIB (asbestos insulation board) on the other hand is often referred to as Asbestolux although that is a trade name just like calling all textured plaster Artex.

AIB is usually softer and contains 30% or more asbestos, often blue (crocidolite) or brown (amosite), we used to prefer it because it was easier to cut than AC :oops: :cry: the examples of the stuff I have seen were not dimpled.

I think your sample just looks like it is laminated because of the way the cutter has broken through It would have been cast as a solid sheet.

By the way white, brown and blue asbestos all look the same in building materials, the colour is only visible when viewed in special lighting conditions under a microscope.
 
Yep, if it was hard as nails deffo asbestos, the asbestolux and fibre boards are dead soft to go through you can tell the difference straight away

Not that there is a safe asbestos but this material is at the bottom of the scale when it comes to the asbestos ometer.
 
Yep i'll say again it was hard as nails. My arm and shoulder can testify to that. Was a bugger to get through.

Thanks for the replies guys. Unfortunately couldn't find time today to give the labs a ring due to various appointments, but will get onto it Monday morning. I'll take their advice on packaging it up for them but will make sure to wet the area and disc prior to touching it again.

freddymercurystwin - cheers for the link. They're not online right now as you'd expect but will fire them info over come Monday.

footprints - pretty sure it's laminated. In fact having said that, i can see where you're coming from. It wasn't one straight through cut due to it's toughness so parhaps that central line is just where the cutter dug in more at an angle.

Anyway, lab test to be sure. I'll see what they say....
 
No need for a lab test, we all grew up with the stuff. Loads of old garages still have it. Wouldn't worry about it.
 
Hi, have you ever got the results back? I've just drilled myself 10x70mm holes in the same type of material, hard like stone, for the last 5 I've used a mask, I kind of guessed it might have some asbestos in it.
 
The last post was 8 years ago, so maybe yes? You might be better off starting a new thread TBH.

And BTW, ignore Joe-90 he was well known for talking cods
 
D

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