How often is asbestos missed?

[OhDearyMe]

Hi I’m after some advice from more knowledgeable people than me.

Someone I know and stay with regularly has entirely renovated a late 1960s house. The house has an integral garage, the ceiling of which was removed during the renovations with new fire retardant boards put in in line with building regs.

I have read that most houses of this age with an integral garage have asbestos ceilings in the garage. Owner of house says theirs was plasterboard. Lots of professionals involved in the renovation of the house so I’m asking what are the chances that this plasterboard was actually asbestos insulation board bearing in mind that the following people would have seen/dealt with it:

Owner
Surveyor when house was bought
Architect
Building regs inspector
Builder (reputable firm) and contractors
Skip company who would have taken old stuff away

is it actually obvious when something is plasterboard rather than AIB? Or is this something that tradesmen can miss?

Thanks for advice and please be gentle with me!

 

[^woody^]

I have read that most houses of this age with an integral garage have asbestos ceilings in the garage.

That is incorrect. Very incorrect

Plasteboard and AIB look totally different.

Of that this, I'd only expect the surveyor and builder to be on the look out for it in any case.

 

[OhDearyMe]

Thanks for the reply.

What do late 60s houses with integral garages usually have as the ceiling in the garage?

And to a professional AIB and plasterboard are obviously different?

 

[Newboy]

And to a professional AIB and plasterboard are obviously different?

Very different

 

[Newboy]

What do late 60s houses with integral garages usually have as the ceiling in the garage?

The last one I owned had plasterboard.

 

[FiremanT]

Hi I’m after some advice from more knowledgeable people than me.

Someone I know and stay with regularly has entirely renovated a late 1960s house. The house has an integral garage, the ceiling of which was removed during the renovations with new fire retardant boards put in in line with building regs.

I have read that most houses of this age with an integral garage have asbestos ceilings in the garage. Owner of house says theirs was plasterboard. Lots of professionals involved in the renovation of the house so I’m asking what are the chances that this plasterboard was actually asbestos insulation board bearing in mind that the following people would have seen/dealt with it:

Owner
Surveyor when house was bought
Architect
Building regs inspector
Builder (reputable firm) and contractors
Skip company who would have taken old stuff away

is it actually obvious when something is plasterboard rather than AIB? Or is this something that tradesmen can miss?

Thanks for advice and please be gentle with me!

AIB is rigid. PB is not.

Why are yu bothered? It has gone, and it is not even your house?

 

[noseall]

Why are yu bothered? It has gone, and it is not even your house?

I think the OP has an obsession about azzy. Perhaps a fashionable all year round dust mask is what she needs.

 

[cwhaley]

Won't mention the name, but the large pharmacy-led retailer I work for has asbestos in hundreds and hundreds of stores.

We regularly remove it when refitting the store but we have come to work on stores previously marked as 'NO' for the presence of asbestos but it is then discovered when starting on site, so it's clearly missed sometimes.

There are lots of 1970s shopping centres with it too. I have spoken to other retailers recently who have discovered it in the ceiling space and decided to leave it and abort planned works due to costs of removal.

 

[Tigercubrider]

Funnily enough I was on an asbestos awareness course on Wednesday

The general view is that if it isn't dusty and breaking up, leave it alone.
Obviously there is a difference between tons of loose lagging and an asbestos ceiling

 

[noseall]

Won't mention the name, but the large pharmacy-led retailer I work for has asbestos in hundreds and hundreds of stores.

We regularly remove it when refitting the store but we have come to work on stores previously marked as 'NO' for the presence of asbestos but it is then discovered when starting on site, so it's clearly missed sometimes.

There are lots of 1970s shopping centres with it too. I have spoken to other retailers recently who have discovered it in the ceiling space and decided to leave it and abort planned works due to costs of removal.

You weren't expecting all of it to disappear the moment it became illegal in the UK? Lol.

 

[ericmark]

I had work to do on a series of buildings, the company owning them had surveys done to identify asbestos and we were given copies so we could avoid it. However again and again we found either asbestos had been removed and the survey not updated, or it had missed it, there was also an asbestos replacement think it was called asbestlux or something like that, you could tell easy what it was, as it sparkled where real asbestos was dull, however had job stopped a few times when some one thought it was asbestos.

I had my garage roof renewed because did not know if asbestos or not, thought I was going to rent house, or would not have bothered, where it was mixed with concrete it is very hard to be sure, but unless you start smashing it up, not really a problem anyway, normal thing was to paint it, and that is where the problem lies, once painted hard to identify.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Ceiling of my 60s garage has asbestos ceiling. Very difficult to tell the difference between asbestos board and cement board. Not a big problem, as the asbestos fibres are bonded by cement, and the type of asbestos isn't the nasty stuff anyway.

Got asbestos drain pipes and soffits too. Loved the stuff in the 60s. The wonder material that was used everywhere. How did we ever survive it?

 

[Sally2000]

How many people are aware that vermiculite insulation installed in the 50s and 60s was contaminated with asbestos fibres?
It shouldn't be disturbed.

 

[noseall]

It shouldn't be disturbed.

They are adapting and fitting these to all known culprits....

 

[EddieM]

How many people are aware that vermiculite insulation installed in the 50s and 60s was contaminated with asbestos fibres?
It shouldn't be disturbed.

I'm afraid that's by and large cobblers, as is most of the bogey man image of asbestos, the poor unsuspecting folk who contracted asbestosis were subjected to clouds of the unbound material regularly over a protracted period of time, you'd be much better off worrying about your diet and pension, even if you lived in a house made of the stuff.