Any experts on asbestos out there?

[OhDearyMe]

I have had an extension done on my house and the knock through obviously created a lot of dust. What are the chances that the external walls would have contained asbestos? I'm thinking if they did it would have been in some sort of a sheet form (aib / cement) and the builders world have spotted it with ease.

It is a 1930s semi and was council owned up until the early 80s. From my research I can see that aib was first produced in the 50s (correct me if I'm wrong!) so there would have not been any of that in the original fabric of this house but possibly could have been added later.

I'm basically asking if anyone knows what the chances of a) there being asbestos in external walls of a 1930s council built semi and b) what the chances are builders missing it /just dealing with it themselves without telling us.

Have recently lost a close relative to an asbestos related disease so it's not something I would have thought about before but plays on my mind a lot now!

 

[joe-90]

Every house contains asbestos if you go looking for it. Forget it. Pollution from traffic is the biggest problem.


Long-term exposure to air pollution contributed to more than 28,000 deaths across the UK in 2010, government figures show.

 

[jeds]

No risk. You can relax.

 

[^woody^]

Traditional walls are not built with asbestos content.

If you get in touch with your local council, they will have an information sheet of sorts which they provide to tenants living in houses like yours, detailing locations where asbestos products are known to have been used.

 

[footprints]

As long as it is brick and not "Non standard construction" which would have freaked out your mortgage lender so you would almost certainly had trouble buying!
Asbestos should not be in a normal brick built wall of that era, if you want to be really picky there is just a possibility that the DPC might be a black asbestos re-enforced felt, but that is considered a very low risk material as the fibers are very firmly embedded in bitumen and chances are they would not have taken care not disturb the existing DPC to avoid damp issues anyway.
Don't worry.