Help Identifying ceiling material

[rawky]

This is the garage ceiling of a 1970's bungalow I want to rip out. Can anyone positively identify the material? It looks like some kind of hardboard but feels/sounds more like cement.

My obvious primary concern is related to the likelihood of it containing asbestos

thanks in advance



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[Luckyphil]

Possibly Supalux which is a Cement based Board , always difficult to tell via a Piccy.

Lucky

 

[masona]

Looks soft to me, I reckon might be fibreboards(?)

You can see the pattern

 

[hunggaur]

be careful we had the same on our 1968 garage ceiling and it is asbestos fibre board.

do not drill it or knock it about.

you can take it out yourself but spray it with water before removing it to keep the fibres down. try not to break it up or with will release the fibres. your local tip will take it as it is relatively low risk if keep damp and not broke up

cheers jon

 

[BigRobCanUFixIt]

or plaster board over the top of it. if you are thinking along those lines.

 

[rossinator]

I recently got some ceiling coverings analysed by a UKAS approved lab called Environchem. Reasonable price for the first sample and only £10 for each further one. The company doesn't do asbestos removal, so they have no incentive to be anything other than honest and they test the samples in house quickly... www.envirochem.co.uk I am not associated with the company, just good experience last week.

 

[cajar]

Well how much is a "reasonable price" then?

ps. only the company themselves describe themselves as 'ukas approved', genuine testimonals dont tend to note this.

 

[rossinator]

I can't be certain if they did a special one off rate for me as I am local, so it would be unfair of me to advertise a price that may or may not have been just for me. The company I mention are UKAS accredited, unlike many asbestos testing places you find on the net who charge unreasonable prices (such as £36+vat for each sample) and skim the profit from sub contracting the work out to genuine labs like the one I mention.

You can find a local company, by using this search tool:

http://www.ukas.com/testingSearch.asp?qt=asbestos+testing&postcode=

Unlike many, the company I mention don't specialise in asbestos removal so have nothing to gain from testing, plus I found them to be fast and professional, emailing me a personalised certificate stating that 6 types of asbestos were tested for.

 

[hunggaur]

i am taking a shed made out of this next week and it is easy to remove and can be removed by yourself as long as you are careful.

tape off the work area with plastic. damp down all the material with a sprayer but do not saturate it. make sure you ware a disposable overalls and a good mask and gloves. double bag everything in plastic and keep it damp to stop the fibres. take it to your local tip. bag all your overalls, mask, gloves etc when finished.

as long as this is either not disturbed or is keep damp when removed it is fine. do not break it up when you take it out or this will release the fibres


hope this helps

jon

 

[crank39]

be careful we had the same on our 1968 garage ceiling and it is asbestos fibre board.

do not drill it or knock it about.

you can take it out yourself but spray it with water before removing it to keep the fibres down. try not to break it up or with will release the fibres. your local tip will take it as it is relatively low risk if keep damp and not broke up

cheers jon

Poor advice i'm sorry to say Jon and potentially dangerous, you cannot remove it yourself without first having it tested to see what type of asbestos it is, recent changes to the law meant that removing AC(asbestos cement) could be done by any competant un-licensed person but this only applied to AC, without having it tested how do you know if its AC or AIB(asbestos insulating board) which cannot be removed by joe public as that type is still licensed as well as the sprayed on stuff around pipes, boilers and girders.

To me that looks like it could be AIB which if removed by an un licensed company or individaul as well as endagering your own and other peoples lives could lead to a prison sentence

http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/essentials/index.htm

 

[hunggaur]

be careful we had the same on our 1968 garage ceiling and it is asbestos fibre board.

do not drill it or knock it about.

you can take it out yourself but spray it with water before removing it to keep the fibres down. try not to break it up or with will release the fibres. your local tip will take it as it is relatively low risk if keep damp and not broke up

cheers jon

Poor advice i'm sorry to say Jon and potentially dangerous, you cannot remove it yourself without first having it tested to see what type of asbestos it is, recent changes to the law meant that removing AC(asbestos cement) could be done by any competant un-licensed person but this only applied to AC, without having it tested how do you know if its AC or AIB(asbestos insulating board) which cannot be removed by joe public as that type is still licensed as well as the sprayed on stuff around pipes, boilers and girders.

To me that looks like it could be AIB which if removed by an un licensed company or individaul as well as endagering your own and other peoples lives could lead to a prison sentence

http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/essentials/index.htm[/QUOTE]

Fair Comment i was working on the basis that is was AC not AIB and fully agree with you over the AIB.

PDF for AC is here http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/a14.pdf

 

[crank39]

Apologies, it wasn't a dig at you but just highlighting the differences between AC and AIB in material and legislation and where one has been made non-notifiable [to the HSE] and the other one still with strict removal procedures

 

[hunggaur]

no problems

to be fair i was unaware so it was well worth learning.

cheers

jon