How do I deal with asbestos in my house?

[Live&Learn]

Good morning.

I hope you are all keeping safe and well.

I purchased my first house last year and it has textured ceilings. The previous occupants had drilled in a few of the ceilings.

I'd like to clean it up and have smooth ceilings.

I sent samples of 5 rooms to a testing company and they said that 2 samples contained chrysotile. They were 4cm x 4cm samples (about 0.5mm thick - the texture was removed and the flat board remained) so I am not sure why the other 3 did not have it.

I have read https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/asbestos.437006/ but I am still not sure how to deal with it.

Is there a test I can pay for to determine whether there are asbestos fibres in the air?

Can I just plug up the holes with filler and consider no more asbestos will come in?

Is there any chance that getting an asbestos removal company to replace the ceilings will make the ambient percentage of asbestos fibres lower (this makes no sense to me)?

Thanks for any guidance.

Edit: sorry, I forgot to mention that the paperwork states that the house was built in the year 1990

 

[jacko555]

I think current advice is box it in / overboard ceilings rather than disturb it. Also keep an asbestos register for yourself, tradesmen and people you sell your house to in the future
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...information#if-you-find-asbestos-in-your-home

 

[23vc]

Yep overboard, thicker ceilings then so slightly better acoustic

 

[^woody^]

Is there any chance that getting an asbestos removal company to replace the ceilings will make the ambient percentage of asbestos fibres lower (this makes no sense to me)?

There won't be any ambient fibres floating about.

Textured coatings that do contain asbestos, only have a very small amount, and then the only way these might get released is by creating dust, lots of dust, and even then it's just small amounts.

 

[Live&Learn]

Thanks. I forgot to mention that the house was built in 1990 if that makes any change.

 

[^woody^]

No

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Asbestos was permitted for use in construction products until the end of 1999. A very few products, such as glue pipe with asbestos rope desks, were given a derogation permitting their use for a short period afterwards, but that did not apply to flat sheet products or plaster products.

 

[Live&Learn]

I'm wondering now if the floor tiles and its adhesive also contained asbestos because I found it damaged and just covered with lino.

Is there any point in paying for an air test?

 

[^woody^]

Is there any point in paying for an air test?

There won't be any ambient fibres floating about.

There will be more fibres in the air when you step out of your front door

 

[Live&Learn]

There will be more fibres in the air when you step out of your front door

Honestly, you are putting my mind more and more at ease.

Should I send some samples of the kitchen floor to get tested or do you think that there is no chance of asbestos being in them and It's ok for them to get replaced DIY?

 

[^woody^]

In the 90's a lot of asbestos products were already phased out by the main builders, and fashion.

If the tiles are 300mm square then they will be vinyl and stuck with contact adhesive, and non-asbestos. Smaller tiles - typically 250mm (10") may have some content, along with the backing bitumen. But 90's fashion tended no to use the old fashioned type and size of tiles.

But as always, in place, the material is not a problem or a hazard. It only needs considering when working on the material.

Floor tiles are one of the easiest and safest products to remove, with very low risk so that they can be removed by un-licenced people. And even when done professionally, no air tests are required because the amount of potential fibres is so low - too low to even be detected by air testing.

 

[Live&Learn]

So we have a builder saying they will plaster over the walls and ceilings of the 3 bedroom house. They have asked me to supply 15 litres of contractor's PVA, 200kg of multifinish plaster, and 75kg of bonding.

We would like to add spotlights. I am assuming that this is not possible with just plastering over, and we will need to fix plasterboard to create a false ceiling of about 1cm. My question is how does one attach plasterboard without drilling into the ceiling?

Thanks.

 

[bristolben]

Here's what I did with my ceilings which contained asbestos and my floors which are 9"x9" Marley asbestos tiles stuck down with asbestos-containing bitumen...

Ceilings - paint with blue grit and get the plasterer to skim them. You can also board them, but that involves locating joists and screwing into the ceiling. We told our electrician that the ceiling has asbestos in it and he was quite happy drilling 5 holes for spotlights; mask on, windows open and hoover going. From this thread, that sounds like it may be overkill.

Floor - paint with 2 coats of watered-down PVA to encapsulate. Stick carpet gripper rods down with gripfill to avoid hammering into tiles / adhesive, lay underlay and carpet.

 

[KenGMac]

Below is a link to a good UK site, the posts in here are all about chrysotile [White Asbestos]

As posted above, chrysotile is the most benign type, the volume of Asbestos in Artex is minimal

The attached may assist in providing good information ??

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

Ken

 

[^woody^]

Holes can be drilled by applying wallpaper paste or shaving foam or some similar sort of gel over the area to be drilled and this catches the dust. This is then scooped up and bagged. Someone can "shadow vac" with a suitable vacuum for goof measure to catch any dust.