Asbestos test ruined garage contents?

phill99

They are scamming your dad.

1) They are playing on his fears
2) there is no way in the world that the results from an asbestos test will come back in 'a few hours'.
3) If there is asbestos present in tne artex (asbestos isn't in plasterboard), it is only a very low grade and a very low amount.

Make sure you buy your dad some vaseline as thes muppets are going to shaft him.

ey_up

Sounds like a scam to me. How old is the house / garage construction?

muckybutt

I am UKATA trained and in no way would the entire contents of a garage be written off by a small sample being taken !

I strongly suspect like others have said that these builders or what ever they claim to be are pulling the wool over your dad's eyes and are out for monetary gain. He really needs a second opinion.

choccyface2006

Thanks for all the replies.

The house was built in 1969 just before then ban on asbestos. My dad worked in housing for the local council most of his life so feels he knows a lot about the dangers of it.

He has spoken to someone from this company again this afternoon and they said the contents of the garage should be fine and that they can probably just overboard the ceiling rather than bringing in the specialist to remove it though they are still waiting on the lab report.

I was just as suspicious when they told me what had gone on yesterday but am becoming less so now ☺

Mojisola

choccyface2006 wrote: »

they rang back a few hours later to say they were 99% sure it was the most dangerous type of asbestos so they had sent it to a lab in Manchester for a confirmation.

choccyface2006 wrote: »

He has spoken to someone from this company again this afternoon and they said the contents of the garage should be fine and that they can probably just overboard the ceiling rather than bringing in the specialist to remove it though they are still waiting on the lab report.

So they've suddenly gone from a "dangerous problem" to "let's just overboard" after the initial pronouncement was queried?

I wouldn't trust them to do any work on the property.

I_have_spoken

Ask them to replace the ridge tiles while they're on-site...

vaio

I'm guessing this is Asbestolux or similar, a sheet material that was often used as a fire break say in a garage ceiling.

Google seems to suggest that whilst blue asbestos was used it in they moved to white in the mid '60s so removal should be easy.

I'm less sure about just over boarding as the H&S asbestos hysteria is getting worse rather than better and it might cause trouble later. 20/30 years ago it would just have been removed & dumped in the bin/skip, now it need double bagging and special disposal, in 10 years time there will probably be a 3 mile exclusion zone if you even look at it.

Worth pointing out that the "scrap the entire contents of the garage" bit came from the OP's father and not the builders

uk_messer

3) If there is asbestos present in tne artex (asbestos isn't in plasterboard), it is only a very low grade and a very low amount.

Actually it can be in plasterboard, in thermal blocks, even in concrete render. There came a point where they were sticking it in everything.

Always best to be safe and limit any exposure but at the same time not get hysterical. At least one person must have died from heart failure reading the scaremongering on the Asbestos removal sites.

paddyrg

As a reassurance (depending on the work that's going on anyway) he might want to spray dilute PVA over all the asbestos with a £5 garden-type sprayer - it'll mean any surface fibres are nicely rebonded on the offchance they were a little loose

DigForVictory

Have you managed to (a) reassure Dad, (b) get your camping gear & cherished kit out of the garage?
I'm glad he's careful of his family's health, but all being well you've still got all the goodies stored there to enjoy in relative peace.