Asbestos

[Jessica1997777]

Hiii everyone..
I'm so nervous and have literally spent the past 3 days sobbing over this and I'm hoping some one can just say GET A GRIP JESSICA!!!
Basically at the end of my garden, the wall is the back of garages owned my the council. The guttering on it and the roof is aged asbestos and flaking all over the place in my back garden. That's my first worry, is there any exposure to fibres from this? I have 3 kids who play in the garden and it's been like that (flaking and damaged) for years. I never knew it was asbestos until one of my friends saw it and mentioned it. Anyway I rang council as its there council garages and they came and took the gutter away in all there asbestos suits and all.. Didn't say a word to me like "don't go outside for a while" or anything.. Just came and did it!
The roof is still there and they aren't gonna do that soon as its a bit job and money etc.. But I'm really worried, I swear my partner has been up there jet washing moss off it and everything in the past. Now I'm sat here thinking me, my partner and my kids have been exposed to asbestos to years.. We got this property 5-6 years ago so I'm sat thinking we've been Inhaling fibres for 6 years and are going to die soon. Please someone give me a virtual shake and tell me to get a grip and to stop worrying myself sick.
Thank you!! Sorry for typos

 

[Burnerman]

Don’t worry about it, Jessica.....this cemented asbestos (asbestolux) would have been well saturated for years and fibres from the roof or whatever won’t have been airborne.
Of course no one would recommend that you cut or sand this stuff but in it’s normal state it poses no harm.
The real nasty stuff is the soft and dusty pipe lagging material and you won’t come across this on a domestic situation.
John

 

[lostinthelight]

We had chicken sheds with AC roofs covered in moss. every few years I would scrub them with a wire brush until white and I looked like a snowman afterwards ,that was in the late 60's till Mid 70's before a lot was known on the subject.
Have a look at my post in this thread.
https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/is-this-asbestos.568597/#post-4970035

 

[Jessica1997777]

Thank you both for your replies! Xx

 

[Jessica1997777]

Thank you both for your reply, I feel a bit better now. I hear the word asbestos and freak out x

Edit sorry didn't realise I posted thanks twice

 

[Old Salt]

Jesica, get a grip! Seriously just leave it alone and you will be okay. Don't let the kids start climbing on the roof or if any drops off don't start throwing it around.
If you do have any in the garden ring the council and get them to collect it.

Better still get onto your local councillor and get them to come round and take a look. If the roofs are damaged they should be sealed if not replaced. Councils will only act if people take a stance, your first bet is the councillor and then the press.

 

[johnny2007]

Anyone who was alive in the 70s and before has been exposed to asbestos.
Don't worry, as other said, unless you start grinding off bits of the roof, you'll be fine.

 

[KenGMac]

The roofing material will be "Cement Bound Asbestos"

The actual "ASBESTOS" content is small, can be anything between 0.5% and 3%

This actual Asbestos is [so called] White Asbestos, this is the least harmful of the [dreaded] Asbestos materials, it is called Chrysotyle

As has been posted above the material is damp and positively wet, so cannot release fibers, if it did release fibers, they will float away on the breeze?? so long as it is not Cut / Sanded / broken / smashed the fibers cannot be released.

During power Washing externally, it is simply not possible to release fibers.

If there are any "bits" of the gutter in your rear garden, have the Council remove them, or? pick them up and place in a doubel plastic bag and ask the Council to remove it.

Below is a "link" that is from a very reliable source and is intended to give advice Indoors for Artex [it also contains White Asbestos]

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/ab...estos-in-home-has-been-disturbed-not-realised

Ken.

 

[Jessica1997777]

Thank you so much guys. I'm gonna get on it to the council and get them to remove the garage roofing.. They are just so bloody slow with it. I had to ring so many times in the first place to get it acknowledged and sorted. Thanks again x

 

[Angelchops]

I had a garage taken down a couple of years ago which I was convinced had a cement bonded asbestos roof. I had been using it for years and as others have said there is no risk as long as you don't break up the Asbestos but I confess, it bothered me. However, when I decided to take the garage down I got a specialised Asbestos removal firm to come and take a look. They said that in a large number of cases these corrugated roofs don't actually contain asbestos at all, it's just a cement based roofing material which looks identical. They took a small sample and sent it off for lab testing, it came back saying no asbestos fibres detected. Like you I'd been worrying about the roof for years for nothing.

If you go on Ebay you'll find several laboratories who offer asbestos self testing kits at a very reasonable price. They contain protective masks and gloves and a special sample bag, you just break off a tiny chunk which a pair of pliers and send it off to them. You'll then get a report telling you either it doesn't contain asbestos so you can relax, or if it does, you'll have a conclusive report to send the council with a carefully worded letter. They'll then know you're serious about wanting it gone and my guess is they'll come and remove the roofing. Local authorities won't risk adverse publicity or possible legal action from you.

 

[Justin Passing]

It's chrysotile and 10-15% in asbestos cement, if it's standard stuff (plenty of pictures online), but otherwise I wouldn't disagree with anything much of the above. In the summer when it all dries out, if you pick some up and rub it between your fingers you get light grey stuff, which does contain fibres - visible under a microscope. I've checked some of mine!
So yeah, the thing is, what you do is, not pick it up and rub it between your fingers.
Write a letter, get all your neighbours to sign it, and send a copy to the local papers and the council. Tell them you'll put some loose in the envelope if you have to write to them again. That should wake them up (it's illegal to post it, but they don't know you..... ). If it turns out to be asbestos free, it only cost you a stamp.

 

[Groovejet]

Hiii everyone..
I'm so nervous and have literally spent the past 3 days sobbing over this and I'm hoping some one can just say GET A GRIP JESSICA!!!
Basically at the end of my garden, the wall is the back of garages owned my the council. The guttering on it and the roof is aged asbestos and flaking all over the place in my back garden. That's my first worry, is there any exposure to fibres from this? I have 3 kids who play in the garden and it's been like that (flaking and damaged) for years. I never knew it was asbestos until one of my friends saw it and mentioned it. Anyway I rang council as its there council garages and they came and took the gutter away in all there asbestos suits and all.. Didn't say a word to me like "don't go outside for a while" or anything.. Just came and did it!
The roof is still there and they aren't gonna do that soon as its a bit job and money etc.. But I'm really worried, I swear my partner has been up there jet washing moss off it and everything in the past. Now I'm sat here thinking me, my partner and my kids have been exposed to asbestos to years.. We got this property 5-6 years ago so I'm sat thinking we've been Inhaling fibres for 6 years and are going to die soon. Please someone give me a virtual shake and tell me to get a grip and to stop worrying myself sick.
Thank you!! Sorry for typos

Im affraid that im too late? And that you are dead by now? If you are in Pergatory? And can pop out , now & again? Can you give me a "Heads Up ?" On what to expect? As the Estate Agent, wrote in the house report..." Signs/areas of asbestos in property? Im left confused, as its not gutters, its not fire places, is it wall paper? That Anaglypta gear?

 

[KenGMac]

Never too late even for some of the denizens that haunt this site??

Get this Estate Agent to actually specify what they think is asbestos?

Could be??
Artex on ceilings and walls.
Floor tiles.
Flue pipe from old boiler??
+ the ones you have eliminated above??

Could be that this Estate Agent is thinking of his / her Professional Indemnety Insurance and pops that "phrase" into all such reports??

Ken.