Is this asbestos?

[atrus912]

In advance, forgive my ignorance. I'm not a DIY kind of guy really, and I'm just kind of paranoid, because my grandfather recently died from mesothelioma.

We live in an old house (like...century old or so) that's been converted to flats. My partner discovered some dark grey fibrous (in his words "felt like loose cotton") material coming out where some wallpaper meets our bathroom window (it seems like the wallpaper was put up ages ago and then our landlady painted it white when she decided to put up tenants). He touched it a bit thinking it was a spider's web, apparently it pulled off very easily, and was more soft than fibre-y.

Anyway, I'm kinda'/sorta' worried that it might be asbestos, so I decided to take some pictures while trying not to handle it too much (I didn't really touch it at all). I took a picture of the seam where the hubby noticed the grey stuff underneath, a picture of the whole window (for whatever that's worth), and a picture of a hole next to the window pane in antoher area where there seems to be some kind of insulation or board as well.

Again, sorry for my ignorance, and I thank you in advance for your help.

Untitled

• atrus912
• 20 Nov 2014
• 1

Untitled

• atrus912
• 20 Nov 2014
• 1

Untitled

• atrus912
• 20 Nov 2014
• 1

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[Deleted member 174758]

In the sort of work I do this is all too common an issue and on commercial properties where construction work is being carried out there is a legal requirement for an asbestos survey to exist and all supervisory staff are required to have completed an asbestos awareness course within the previous 2 years. Sadly surveys aren't required on privately-owned rented property.

I'm afraid that the answer to "is this asbestos or not?" is that you just cannot tell by visual inspection alone. Do not take the word of anyone who says that you can. Asbestos was used in all sorts of places and products and that includes being packed in around in door casings and windows as a fire-retardant sealant (before we had mineral wool), in Artex, etc. On the plus side you are normally advised that if asbestos is left undisturbed and sealed it isn't a problem and we frequently just box it in amnd seal it rather than creating massive problems for ourselves by disturbing it through removal. If you are really concerned about these fibres it is possible to purchase an asbestos test kit. With these you take a sample (see the links below - they supply masks, glocves, etc) and send it away to a lab for testing. A couple of sources for testing kits are Cornerstone who charge you £40 for one sample, £55 for two and so on and Terrence Martin who's kits are a similar price. Both these firms are UKAS accredited labs (UK Accreditation Service) who will do the job properly. There have been some cheap kits called ProLab being offered by Amazon, eBay, etc. These are bargain basement kits at £7 or £8 which use a lab in the USA. The problem is that they don't work to the UK standards and there is concerm that their results are unreliable. I'd advise avoiding them