Might these boards contain asbestos?

[Derek M]

I've got this drop ceiling in my hall between the bedroom and living room doors (as shown in the first photo) that I want to take down and I was going to just cut around the edges with my multi-tool, but now I'm wondering whether it might be some sort of board that contains asbestos rather than ordinary wood. The board was covered in paper and paint which I've been removing using X-Tex just in case it's Artex but I'm thinking that they would have papered and painted it when it was put up, so if they were using Artex at that time maybe the boards they used also contained asbestos.

The second photo shows the edge of the vertical board where it joins the horizontal board after I stripped the paper and paint off. You can see the surface of the horizontal board where I've removed the paper looks like wood.

The third and fourth photos are looking into the space above the drop ceiling from my living room, after I removed the panel above the door blocking it off. You can see there's some sort of old ducting going into the space above the bedroom door (it's boarded off inside the bedroom so you can't see it from there, but I guess it was used to carry fresh air, or heated air, to the rooms). What concerns me is this side of the board looks grey, like cement, rather than brown like the wooden battens and door frame.

There's also this big round orange thing in the space, as shown in the fifth photo, which is very light. I have no idea what that was for but I'll be able to bag that up without cutting it once the board is removed, if it's safe to do so.

 

[^woody^]

The paper backing and joints indicate that the board is plasterboard. If they all look the same, then that's OK.

Is the orange thing a flue or heater duct? It does appear to be a foam coating rather than asbestos, and spray asbestos would not usually be used in domestic work. However if it is asbestos insulation, it would be one of the most hazardous types. Also, depending on what it actually is and the install date, it may have asbestos material in the joints, if so requires care in dismantling and specialist removal.

 

[Derek M]

Ah, so the grey appearance on the topside of the board is just a paper backing?

The rectangular orange covered bit must have been an old flue or heater duct, I'm not sure how the round orange thing was part of that. It's so light that there can't be much inside the foam and if they removed something that was inside it, I can't imagine why they'd leave the foam there. This was already all blocked off in 1999, and the flat had storage heaters then, which were replaced with gas central heating about 15 years ago. So maybe before the storage heaters were fitted, these ducts carried hot air from somewhere to the bedroom and living room.

 

[Derek M]

I've started taking these boards down now and I've taken some photos of the cross-section, showing the stuff that's sandwiched between the outer layers, both with and without flash. Does this look like plasterboard?

I also got a better picture of the first part of the orange covered vent after I was able to take that down. This part was just resting on the board, so it came down quite easily once I wiggled it away from the wall. The other parts are going to be a bit trickier, as they're wedged between the battens underneath and the ceiling above, and if there's any risk of any asbestos in the joints I need to get it down in one piece.

 

[jeds]

All plasterboard.

Post a close photo of the broken bit of the orange flue covering.

 

[Derek M]

Thanks for confirming that the boards are plasterboard.

I was able to remove the section of venting that went from the bedroom to the main section. I had to cut away the board above the door on the bedroom side, as it was covering a metal grill with a lever to open and close the vent and the venting was attached to that, so I had to unscrew the grill to release it. The only remaining piece is the section that went from the main part to the bathroom, via the airing cupboard, as shown here:

Venting-going-to-to-bathroom hosted at ImgBB

Image Venting-going-to-to-bathroom hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

Encased-venting-to-bathroom-in-airing-cupboard hosted at ImgBB

Image Encased-venting-to-bathroom-in-airing-cupboard hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

That piece is going to be much harder to remove because a) if it is attached a metal grill in the bathroom wall, that's been plastered and tiled over and b) where it passes through the airing cupboard it's been encased in something that may contain asbestos. If the orange foam doesn't contain asbestos, I might be able to cut through that and the metal venting where it enters the airing cupboard so that the hall is clear of it, and just leave the bit in the airing cupboard alone.

I've already wrapped up the venting that I took down, but I took these pictures of the remaining piece.

This is at the end where it joined to the main section, showing a cross-section of the foam.

Cut-foam-under-remaining-venting hosted at ImgBB

Image Cut-foam-under-remaining-venting hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

These are at the end where it enters the airing cupboard, where they appear to have used a piece of the same type of foam to wedge the venting in place.

Foam-wedged-under-venting-2 hosted at ImgBB

Image Foam-wedged-under-venting-2 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

Foam-wedged-under-venting hosted at ImgBB

Image Foam-wedged-under-venting hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

This photo was taken from below the remaining piece of venting, showing the space where the removed venting was. On the left you can see the kitchen wall, which is mostly cinder block except for the light grey end piece, which I guess was put there when the venting was decommissioned. Strangely there was no venting going to the living room (straight ahead), only to the kitchen, the bedroom and the bathroom, and I couldn't see anywhere on the main part where another section of venting could have been connected.

Cleared-space hosted at ImgBB

Image Cleared-space hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

 

[jeds]

All looks like foam. Doesn't look at all like asbestos.

 

[Derek M]

Thanks, that's a relief.