Is this asbestos and how to cover?

Cirias

Hi everyone,

Currently doing up a house and in the kitchen there is this alcove where I think the old flue used to be. There's a lot of plastic cladding screwed into the wall which looks hideous. So, on removing the cladding I came across this yellowed foam type stuff (images linked) and I have two questions:

http://imgur.com/a/Uqbrm

1. Is this asbestos?
2. Can I plaster over the wall underneath if I remove all the cladding?

Thanks all!

wookie008

Is it that expanding foam stuff? I've got something similar cladding a pipe in my bathroom (in the cabinet).

gardner1

Cirias wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Currently doing up a house and in the kitchen there is this alcove where I think the old flue used to be. There's a lot of plastic cladding screwed into the wall which looks hideous. So, on removing the cladding I came across this yellowed foam type stuff (images linked) and I have two questions:

http://imgur.com/a/Uqbrm

1. Is this asbestos?
2. Can I plaster over the wall underneath if I remove all the cladding?

Thanks all!

It's not asbestos

Doozergirl

It's almost definitely expanding foam. A bodge job to fill the gap there. You can't plaster straight onto it, it's unstable.

Greg_Williams

Well, it does not look like asbestos at all which is the good news. Bad news are that "Doozergirl" is right, the material is not strong enough for your purposes. You will need to remove the foam, replaster the wall and only after that do whatever you want with the wall. I can recommend applying some tiles on top. It will make the wall more resistant to anything floating around, I can see that this is your kitchen Things happen...

TheCyclingProgrammer

I agree it's expanding foam.

Either remove it as advised and get plasterers in to make good (they can fill the holes with bonding plaster and then skim) or have it plasterboarded and skimmed.