Asbestos - Artex

[SparrowHawk99]

I've got a fair amount of this on the bedroom walls and ceilings. I'm finding a steamer takes care of most of it, although it takes ages to soak in deep enough to allow the asbestos to be gently scraped off without leaving a dust cloud. HOWEVER -

Once most of it is off there are still very thin layers of it on the wall because the plastered surface underneath is preventing me from taking it off cleanly with a sharp blade scraper. The layer underneath is just gypsum plaster ..

I'm using a hoover, P3 mask and seal off the room. I take care not to dry scrape, get the occasional bit of dust where the water hasn't soaked in but then re-soak. Friend suggested just removing the ceilings and re-boarding which seems more contaminating and more expense. I'm not prepared to just skim over it for someone else to find like others have suggested

Can anyone tell me how I can finish off removing the remaining tiny amounts of asbestos? I'd like to see it all gone. Would it just be a case of buying a much smaller scraper and working away at it with the steamer again? Scraper I'm using at the moment is about 100mm. It's already taken me 3-4 hours to remove about 1.5m2 of this stuff from the wall but likely the ceiling is plaster-boarded so I'm hoping once wet the artex will come off without leaving any of itself behind

Thoughts and idea?

 

[jeds]

How do you know it contains asbestos. Have you had it tested?

 

[SparrowHawk99]

Yes had it checked - crystotile

 

[jeds]

The first thing to say is that textured coatings are classed as very low risk. The coating only contains a very small amount of asbestos fibre - typically 3 or 4 % - and that fibre is bound within the plaster carrier. Chrysotile fibre is also low risk in itself. It is not the same as Amosite and Crocidolite which is nasty stuff. Removal used to be controlled but several years ago HSE carried out research which found that there is only really risk in the very worse cases - such as extensive sanding for prolonged periods. Following that textured coatings were taken off the controlled list and now anybody can remove it with sensible precautions. Really the same precautions you would take with any type of silicate dust.

By removing 95% of the coating it is doubtful there would be any traces of fibre left on the wall at all. If there were it would be in minute quantities and much less than the amount found in the general atmosphere. And even then it would be harmless anyway. So my advice is forget about the non-existent traces and get on with your decorating.

 

[SparrowHawk99]

Thanks Jeds that's really put me at ease.

My next question is the external walls have an EXTREMELY old layer of lime plaster at the base. On top has been plastered. In case of the internal walls the walls have lath and plaster with boarding attached and then plastered on top. Obviously the artex has been applied since.

How's best to deal with these walls? Can old plaster be plastered over a new? At the moment the external walls look like a patch work quilt, with the lime showing through and the plaster, and then the thin cloudy artex where i haven't been able to take off. Also previous builders have attempted to use bonding plaster in places lol The bedroom is a complete mess

 

[jeds]

I can picture it. On walls like that it's always difficult to know where to stop. You can skim over old lime render as long as it's fairly intact. Otherwise hack out and patch anything loose and friable first. Trouble is it can be a problem skimming multiple surfaces with different suctions and textures. One method is to skim first with a thin layer of bonding - a fairly wet layer almost like a skim coat. Plasterers I know prefer that method when skimming over textured coatings to stop the patterns showing thorough and it works well as long as the wall is fairly flat and skimmable.

With the internal walls it depends how far you want to go. I would usually try and save any lath and plaster if it's in reasonable condition and repairable but once it's been hacked about like that and boarded over I'd be tempted to take the whole lot off and re-board. Seems a lot of effort but it can sometimes work out less than repairing and making good.