How much should this job be?

[Rachel G]

Hi all,

I bought a doer upper in zone 3 SW London, one bed house, 45 sq metres. It has artex ceilings everywhere which I had tested for asbestos and they contain Chrysotile. I’ve been doing everything myself in the renovation except gas plumbing, electrics and roof repairs and now need a plasterer as that’s not something I can DIY. It’s been really hard getting anyone interested in the job and if they are, quotes are around 5k for the whole house (all walls and ceilings) after I have over boarded the ceilings myself to cover the asbestos ready for skimming. Is this a reasonable price?

A plasterer coming to look at the job next week suggested he skimmed over the asbestos, is this sensible? Seems like there’s some risk of it coming down, going by forum posts. If I did go that route then how much should that affect the price?

Thanks!
Rachel

 

[robinbanks]

I'd consider removing it rather than overboarding it; if you're going to put up new boards anyway, it's no different in terms of materials costs so it's just the effort required to remove the old

You're aware of its presence and if kept you must disclose this in any future sale. Notifying a buyer could torpedo a sale, or diminish the property value more than the costs of removal. Not mentioning it lines you up for prosecution under the property misdescriptions act.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

I'd consider removing it rather than overboarding it; if you're going to put up new boards anyway, it's no different in terms of materials costs so it's just the effort required to remove the old

You're aware of its presence and if kept you must disclose this in any future sale. Notifying a buyer could torpedo a sale, or diminish the property value more than the costs of removal. Not mentioning it lines you up for prosecution under the property misdescriptions act.

Proper removal is non-trivial, current advice from HSE is still encapsulate and mark.
Skimming it directly would be a bad idea, overboarding much better.
Well worth OP getting a price for removal though for the reasons you state

 

[Rachel G]

Proper removal is non-trivial, current advice from HSE is still encapsulate and mark.
Skimming it directly would be a bad idea, overboarding much better.
Well worth OP getting a price for removal though for the reasons you state

I asked the company who did the asbestos survey of the house about a year ago and then it was slightly over 3k for the whole house. Probably more now, and definitely something I'd want done properly or not at all. I am concerned about it reducing the house's value - I didn't intent to do this house as a 'flip' but tbh I don't love the neighbourhood (very 'villagey' and nosy) so may let it for a bit and then sell it. I am an honest person so would always let the buyer know about something like asbestos as I'd hate for someone to unknowingly drill into it, etc. Any idea how to research the likely price decrease for having boarded over and skimmed asbestos ceilings?

Thanks
Rachel

 

[oldbutnotdead]

I asked the company who did the asbestos survey of the house about a year ago and then it was slightly over 3k for the whole house. Probably more now, and definitely something I'd want done properly or not at all. I am concerned about it reducing the house's value - I didn't intent to do this house as a 'flip' but tbh I don't love the neighbourhood (very 'villagey' and nosy) so may let it for a bit and then sell it. I am an honest person so would always let the buyer know about something like asbestos as I'd hate for someone to unknowingly drill into it, etc. Any idea how to research the likely price decrease for having boarded over and skimmed asbestos ceilings?

Thanks
Rachel

You'd have to ask local estate agents. Hard to put a cash value on it, some people won't care, some lenders might have a rush of blood to the brain if they see the A word on a survey. If you have the (probably) 5k now to get it removed & certificate saying 'house is asbestos free' it'll be worth doing (for your own peace of mind if nothing else) before you sink a load of cash into the rest of the refurb. If budget is tight (which it probably is) then overboarding would be better than skimming.

 

[HawkEye244]

If I recall correctly the HSE have guidelines on DIY artex removal... See if you can find it.
There are different types of asbestos and chrysotile is the least toxic of them all.
I have removed a lot of my own artex as I was in the same predicament as you and I used X-TEX. It's a gel that is painted onto the artex and a scraper is used to then get underneath the backing paper and 'peel' NOT scrape the backing paper away.

Wearing a full or half face mask and ventilate each room (windows wide open) and seal the door to the room you are working in. If you want to be extra cautious you can hire a fan from a hire company to put the room under negative air pressure. The only real cost then is the disposal of the material which should be double bagged and declared as contaminated waste at your local recycling centre/skip

 

[justigator]

London N14 (zone 4), 4 bed semi. In 2019 I paid £3,840 for the removal of chrysotile ceilings in five rooms plus a garage, total area about 54 square metres. I then paid a further £3,500 to have the ceilings (except the 12.5 square metre garage ceiling) boarded and skimmed. Total cost £7,340 with two very good contractors. Money well spent in my opinion and a tiny fraction of the total cost of buying the house and moving in that year. Although it would not be necessary if I didn't like monkeying about with my house, as chrysotile seems to be fine if left undisturbed.