Can it be asbestos?

[svouts]

Hi,

I am removing the plywood ceiling under a flat roof. I am going to replace with plasterboardoard. There is this old insulation behind the plywood.

Can It be asbestos?

 

[Tigercubrider]

get it tested.
May be soft board like a compressed dartboard.

 

[Munroast]

What is or has this room been used for, could there be a reason for having asbestos ?

yep, if in doubt get it tested, especially the soft monkey dung stuff, as that is the really dangerous stuff to handle. And if it is asbestos get a professional to remove it.

 

[^woody^]

It's difficult to see what you are trying to show. Is it a board, or a coating on a board?

The staining makes me think it less likely to be an asbestos board, but if it's got a coating like Artex, then that could contain low levels of the least hazardous type of asbestos fibre.

 

[svouts]

What is or has this room been used for, could there be a reason for having asbestos ?

yep, if in doubt get it tested, especially the soft monkey dung stuff, as that is the really dangerous stuff to handle. And if it is asbestos get a professional to remove it.

It is a room in the top floor of my house. Above there is a flat roof with felt. The ceiling is plywood supported on 2 x 2 inches beams. I just wanted to remove the plywood sheets and replace hem with plasterboard.

 

[^woody^]

It is a room in the top floor of my house. Above there is a flat roof with felt. The ceiling is plywood supported on 2 x 2 inches beams. I just wanted to remove the plywood sheets and replace hem with plasterboard.

Still not clear.

You've removed a board of some sort, looks like it was hardboard, and now there is that other board of some kind, and are you saying that that is plyboard with a coating of some sort? So you are concerned about the coating?

Or are you saying that its not plyboard and you don't know that it is? If so, have you got clear images of the board and not just the coating?

 

[Deleted member 174758]

How thick is the board?

 

[conny]

Can you gain access above the ceiling to see what it looks like from the other side?
The boards are hardboard, not plywood as stated in your original post.
If you are going to take a sample for analysis I would suggest face goggles and a good quality respirator. Make sure there is no one in the area and vacuum thoroughly afterwards.

 

[Diver Fred]

You haven't said how old the property is. Between the wars (and just after WW2) it was common to use 'Fibreboard' as a ceiling material under flat roofs. Your description of how the roof is lined is very reminiscent of using fibreboard in flat roof construction of that era.
As others have suggested get it tested for your own peace of mind but if it is fibreboard it is just very mucky to remove.

It was common to to put Hardboard or Plywood sheets up to hide the fibreboard as 'improvements'. The fibreboard was used as an insulating material as it could be painted and would absorb a quantity of the paint to form a skin which your pictures show pealing away. Condensation above the board would be absorbed quickly.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

... in the area and vacuum thoroughly afterwards.

DON'T vacuum - if asbestos fibres are sucked into a domestic vacuum, being so small they will go straight through the filter and be blown out the back of the vacuum. This is why asbestos removal firms have to use class H vacuums which have much better filtration than even the class M vacuums we use for MDF (which in turn have much better filtration than domestic vacuums). The advised approach if you can't avoid handling asbestos or suspected materisls is to damp down the material by spritzing with water to prevent fibres becoming airborne. As to masks - they need to by class P3 as opposed to the cheaper and less effective P2

 

[conny]

Thanks for the clarification J&K.

 

[Nozzle]

Wall paper paste is also good. Dyed with food colour for certainty of application, Unlike spritzed water it encapsulated even when dry.