Free loft insulation.....

The_Bargain_Hunters

Hi
I have just had a guy round re the grant - the good news is we definitely qualify - the bad news is we have vermiculite insulation which could possibly contain asbestos :eek:!!! He said he could not say for sure we would have to get it tested ~ but suggested we could carefully swept it up and then bag it up as long as we did not crush the stuff it should be ok....
I just looked online and it looks like we would have to get a specialist surveyor which is quite expensive (there are home test kits for £25 but if its positive then the clear up to be safe would also be expensive!!) not sure what to do as we were planning on having a good clear out up there (so much junk its self insulated!)
Would it be best to just leave alone and not disturb??? (Can't afford to spend at moment!)

tlh858

The_Bargain_Hunters wrote: »

but suggested we could carefully swept it up and then bag it up as long as we did not crush the stuff it should be ok....

That is very poor advice.
There is no way of 'carefully' sweeping it up - disturbing it in any way will cause vast amounts of dust.

Suggest you take a sample (from the bottom of the insulation, not the top) and send to a lab to find out if it does actually contain asbestos.

If it does contain asbestos then it will have to be professionally removed, but you don't have to do this immediately, as it will be safe unless it is disturbed.

CashisKing

Good advice +1
We recently bought a house with the same issue.
It turned out not to be asbestos, still nasty, dusty stuff if you disturb it though