Asbestos in render

markrhos

Hi

Our house currently qualifys for external wall insulation through a government scheme.

Prblem is the scheme has said that there is asbestos in the gable end render (60sqm) and the y will not be drilling the cladding to the wall.

The survay we had on the house didnt mention anything about asbestos, just said that the curren render was sand and cement.

Did people use asbestos in cement to rneder in the old days??
And how much would it cost to remove this much asbestos??

mark

phoenix_w

Did they send a sample of the render off for analysis before stating it contains asbestos? While it's possible the render may contain it, it's impossible to know whether the cement has had asbestos added by the naked eye.

Does the render need removing before the work takes place? If not it should be fairly low risk to add the insulation on top of it with some sensible precautions - maybe employ a specialist asbestos contractor for drilling the holes if that would satisfy your insulation provider, or even drill them yourself if you get some decent advise on keeping safe and the insulation installer is happy to proceed.

If you need to remove the render, things will become problematic. But they would also be problematic if you didn't have asbestos, as there could be problems with the brickwork that the render is obscuring.

Kiran

As above, there's no way to tell just by looking at the render with the naked eye if it is an ACM. A sample needs to be taken to a lab and examined under a microscope. there's training and methods that allow you to drill into ACM's minimising the risk of fibre release.

cyclonebri1

markrhos wrote: »

Hi

Our house currently qualifys for external wall insulation through a government scheme.

Prblem is the scheme has said that there is asbestos in the gable end render (60sqm) and the y will not be drilling the cladding to the wall.

The survay we had on the house didnt mention anything about asbestos, just said that the curren render was sand and cement.

Did people use asbestos in cement to rneder in the old days??
And how much would it cost to remove this much asbestos??

mark

Yes they did, and no don't remove it.

As per everyone else, get a sample analised and present the (hopefully) clear cert to the next contractor you enlist, possibly the present 1 is just looking for an excuse, unless he has had other similar properties in the area tested of course, but you really should have asked how/why he thinks asbestos??;)

markrhos

hi guys

thanx for the replies

the company did (apparently) send a sample away, even though i was there when the asbestos person was in the house and he only took samples of the artex in kitchen ceiling.

I spoke with the site manager yesterday and he said it was only on one gable and not on the render on the back of the property and 2nd gable.

sounds a bit dodgy to me, so i've asked for a 2nd opinion on this and he is sending another company over rin the new year

spaceboy

Take a sample to a lab. Phone an asbestos surveying company that also does lab analysis and ask them about it. Try companies like Redhills or IOM. Where do you live and how old is the house as it is not common to find asbestos in render although obviously they could have mixed anything into it when they were making it up.

Risteard

phoenix_w wrote: »

even drill them yourself

That's pretty silly advice, and could put other people at risk other than himself.

I also very much doubt that he has access to a H-class hoover, which must remove 99.995% of debris.

spaceboy

Can you see where they took the samples from?


To be honest most asbestos surveys would not sample the render unless they had a reason to be suspicious of it. Did the builders sample it themselves as part of their risk management?

Cyclepath

External render wouldn't normally be somewhere you would expect to find Asb, possibly in the damp course or soffit board. If you can get a copy of the lab result post exactly what it says.