abestos problem

lplsstone

i purchased my home in 2006 i had a structural survey done at the time of purchase and everything was fine, the house was originally a council house untill 2005 when it was purchased from the council by the then owner. just before christmas my boiler broke, this boiler had been in the property since i purchased it, i had never had any trouble with the boiler before untill now. i had asked a plumber to come and view the boiler to see if it could be fixed he said no and also told me to be careful as he had noticed my ceiling were artex and also i had a rather large crack in the ceiling near the boiler, he beleived that due to the age of the house the ceiling and boiler would almost certainly contain asbestos. i was shocked and i arranged to have the ceilings tested and the boiler. It cost we £200 to have this checked, the results came back detailing i had asbestos in all my ceilings in the house and the boiler. as i have quite a few cracks in my downstairs ceilings i am worried that myself and my children are being exposed to the asbestos, I have been quoted £3500 to remove 3 ceilings and the boiler, (all my pipes may have to be removed also but i am waiting for confirmation on that) this is not including replacing the ceilings or replacing the central heating system, which at present i am still living without.

I was wondering if anyone knows if there is anyway i could try to retrieve some of these costs back, i have recently been made redundant and i am no longer working. any saving i have will have to pay for this but how i will then afford replacing the central heating and the ceilings i don't know?
is there anyway i could claim something back from the council as they built the original house???
i appreciate any advice on this
thanks:)

bwhomeresponse

asbestos was used to make artex 40 50 yrs ago. as long as you do not disturb it and it is stable there should not be a problem.

vax2002

I think you would have been better calling another boiler engineer.
Artex does contain some white asbestos and is fine where it is if it is not breaking up, it can be plastered over if it is such a problem.
On the boiler, just get someone to fix it who knows what they are doing instead of sticking their nose in to the compound make up of your ceilings.
PS can I ask is this someone the "boiler man" recommended ?
it sounds like you may have got mixed up with some con men here.
Are you sure they are not "travellers" mobile only numbers etc.

ian103

try someone like british gas, way too expensive for a new boiler but they fixed and serviced our old boiler 15+ years old with no issues, they actually recommend fix and maintain rather than replace it was an old boiler but they could get spares etc. once we ha enough spare cash we had a new boiler by someone else.

Canucklehead

O.P.: excellent info on asbestos here.

My OH has informed many customers over the years about the existence of asbestos in the home...most were unaware and some didn't care that the gas appliance/warm air heating unit they wanted him to remove and replace contained asbestos and would incur additional costs for safe removal and disposal.

Btw...people have assumed that the only asbestos found in the ceilings is in the artex...perhaps the OP could illuminate.

HTH

Canucklehead

lplsstone

i did wonder myself but the plumber never actually recommended anybody he just told me it needed to be checked for asbestos, i did get another plumber (a family friend) to try to fix the boiler but he was unable to as the boiler is 20yrs+ and the required part is no longer made and would be very hard to gat hold of if infact it still exsists. the company who tested the asbestos recommended immediate removal because of the cracks in the artex, i presume this means that the asbestos has been exposed?

jc808

Bet you any money the possibility of Asbestos was mentioned in your original survey

PS Caveat Emptor

tristinh

I called 'scientific services' at our local council for advice on our Artex and they spent a long time exlaining it all to me.

Basically, IF (the big IF) it does contain asbestos it is still only a low level and doesn't require a licenced contractor to remove it. He said as long as it isn't sanded, the fibres remain bonded to the other components of the material and there is only a very small chance of exposure to fibres. We are having it removed (for cosmetic reasons) by a plasterer (who has done 100's of these ceilings) - 7 rooms - Artex removed, replastered, any broken coving replaced and some plastering of the chasing done by our electrician for £1500 all in. He said it was 6 days work.

As mentioned earlier though - maybe it is asbestos ceilings, not just Artex?

Hintza

OP have a read at this:-

http://www.chris-cooke.co.uk/greatasbestosscam2.html

And if you still want it removed at great/rip off expense I will risk life an limb and come down from Scotland and do it for £2.5k...;)

Niv

If the asbestos is in the artex, just paint it. No real harm in the grand scheme of things. If however the asbestos is in insulation boards (i.e is the ceiling) then removal should be considered especially if it is damaged.

Please note it is unlikely to be insulation boards much more likely to just be in the artex. All artex does not contain asbestos but some does. It is very low level. When you had someone round to test the ceilings did they actually take a sample from every room with artex? Often one sample would be taken per floor and used as a 'like' sample.

As for teh boiler, check to see if your local household waste recycling centre will accept asbestos waste. The boiler is likely to contain asbestos cement (which is not too bad) but may contain fabric lagging, which is worse but dont panic as even if it is fabric lagging it is likely to be Chrysotile (white) which is very harm to inhale and therefore considered low risk. If in doubt just wrap the boiler in plastic when you transport.

Niv

AdmiralX

tristinh wrote: »

I called 'scientific services' at our local council for advice on our Artex and they spent a long time exlaining it all to me.

Basically, IF (the big IF) it does contain asbestos it is still only a low level and doesn't require a licenced contractor to remove it. He said as long as it isn't sanded, the fibres remain bonded to the other components of the material and there is only a very small chance of exposure to fibres. We are having it removed (for cosmetic reasons) by a plasterer (who has done 100's of these ceilings) - 7 rooms - Artex removed, replastered, any broken coving replaced and some plastering of the chasing done by our electrician for £1500 all in. He said it was 6 days work.

As mentioned earlier though - maybe it is asbestos ceilings, not just Artex?

That is great price, where is this plasterer now? I am realy interested, Plasterers here tell me they only plaster over the thing they do not remove it. and can he come to London?

I have a lounge ceiling, 17 X 15 and 2 corridors with ceilings and walls artexed. The lounge ceiling has cracked because I have neighbours upstairs who are careless and drop heavy furniture and create vibrations.