Advice needed - Asbestos (pictures added)

Gold_Dust_2

Hi all,

My sister has just bought a house and thinks that she may have found some asbestos in a wall. A significant portion of the ceilings are also made from artex. What should she do? They've put all of their money into this.

harrys_dad

Gold_Dust wrote: »

Hi all,

My sister has just bought a house and thinks that she may have found some asbestos in a wall. A significant portion of the ceilings are also made from artex. What should she do? They've put all of their money into this.

Asbestos is only dangerous if disturbed, many houses "have asbestos". Artex is usually just a ceiling covering, but hard to remove. The best way is to replaster over it. Not sure why you should think artex is dangerous, and surely it was apparent on viewing.

What did her survey say?

marliepanda

What makes her think that?

Did she have a full structural survey which says 'there is no asbestos in this house?'

If not, then its her house now. Asbestos isn't dangerous unless disturbed, lots of buildings have it, what is she planning to do?

agrinnall

Did she get a survey done of a type that would have found this? If she did then there may be a claim to be made against the surveyor. If not then she'll need to start saving up. What she definitely should not do is DIY removal:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artex

Removal of Artex is covered by the UK's Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations 2006, which make it unlawful (if it contains asbestos) for a contractor not licensed by the country's Health and Safety Executive to undertake most work on asbestos coatings

Mr_F_Dorsetty

Myself I'd talk to the local council in a general way, not specific to your sisters house.

There are occasions it seems where some councils do remove the asbestos for either no or a minimum charge but I think that is very much dependant on council AND circumstances.

Ring the Environmental section and see if you can find out, I wouldn't mention your sister as there may well be criteria it would be useful to be pre-warned about.

Hope that helps and good luck

Building_Surveyor

First things first if it's undamaged your sister does not need to do anything. If she intends to do any work to this wall, I.e drilling, demolition etc then she needs to get an asbestos survey done first. Depending on what she wants to do with the wall will depend on what type of survey she needs. I.e demolition survey, management survey etc.

If it's undamaged/undisturbed then your sister does not need to worry.

Gold_Dust_2

She didn't get a survey done because she spoke to the council on the likelihood of it being found within the house, and they said that it was low, however, given the type of house it is and the era that it was built in (and according to the inspector she spoke to on the phone) it seems very likely.

She found it when she was inspecting one of the holes in the wall made by removing the (many) nails that the previous owner had put in, so she has, in effect, disturbed it. She's getting someone in to inspect it and test for it tomorrow. Any other useful tips would be appreciated.

topdaddy_2

So its her opinion then?

marliepanda

She has no recourse then. It's her house to do as she pleases with. No one told her there was 100% no asbestos. Scrimping on a survey may save money, it may cost money...

Gold_Dust_2

topdaddy wrote: »

So its her opinion then?

Yep. Getting it officially checked out tomorrow.

Gold_Dust_2

What do you all think? This is a chunk that fell off: