Advice on asbestos and lead paint/

unforeseen

I think your anxiety about the level of POSSIBLE danger is rather excessive and, as has been suggested, you really need to speak to your GP about this. You and your family face greater risks in normal day to day life than the asbestos and lead paint risk level you are imagining.

Homersimpson

Asbestos is a naturally occurring material and there is always some degree of background level of asbestos in the air.

My advice if your really worried about this would be to take a piece of the ceiling that has been removed and send it off to an asbestos specialist to check whether anything is in it.

Someone like this can do it for around £40 (they work for us as an end client doing asbestos surveys on our buildings so they are reputable). https://www.bradley-enviro.co.uk/services/asbestos-consultants/asbestos-self-sampling-kits

Just bear in mind that lots of people worked with asbestos every day when it was in common use (there are 7 types of asbestos I recall but only 3 were commercially used) and they are fine, its a fairly small minority who are generally affected.

What you are worrying about is being exposed to a very minor amount of dust which may contain some asbestos fibres on one occasion. Even if the sample comes back positive its not likely to be a problem.

If all you have done is fit a few downlights you will have more chance of dying when crossing the road and don't even think about the dangers of driving!

FreeBear

sammyjayneex wrote: »

What is the risk? [from hair in plaster]

If you suffer from any allergies associated with animal hair, there is a very, and I do mean very, small risk of a reaction. There are other extremely minor health risks when working with haired plaster, but there have not been any reported cases linked to plaster. In deference to the OP, I for one, will not go any further. Just wear a dust mask when cutting, drilling, or sanding and vacuum up afterwards.

TheCyclingProgrammer

sammyjayneex wrote: »

What is the risk?

Given your levels of anxiety you probably don’t want to know particularly as it’s very unlikely to be an issue in a 1930s build - it’s more of an issue in older properties - early 20th century and older.

sammyjayneex

Thanks everyone. I’ll be asking the council permission in future. I thought things like this didn’t need it but I will be in future. So let’s say my son swallowed a horse hair and it didn’t have any ‘bad stuff’ On it would it just come out the other end or will it stay in his body?
Anyway I also want to put In a new kitchen so I’m gonna fill out a form to ask permission, don’t know if they will accept it or not. The kitchen we have is falling to bits!

Mojisola

sammyjayneex wrote: »

To be honest I just came on here for some advice whether the ceiling from this era with the description I give could have been asbestos. I can’t even sit in my front room now or let my kids on thereby now due to the possibility there’s harmful stuff Around ( even though every ring is plastered up now) and had to get rid of an expensive sofas due to this so I’m not having a great time due to this

Both these things are unnecessary - it's not asbestos you need to sort out - it's your anxiety that's the problem.

FreeBear

sammyjayneex wrote: »

So let’s say my son swallowed a horse hair and it didn’t have any ‘bad stuff’ On it would it just come out the other end or will it stay in his body?

It will come out of one end or the other along with anything else he swallows. It may take a day or two to pass through the digestive tract, but won't do any harm.

diplodock

I own an older home, I grew up in an older home. Short of installing completely new walls, it's likely some layer of paint may have a lead component. That said, the paint-over of the premises and sealing over loose paint chips and landlords disclosures, and your inspection ought to suffice. I would be more concerned about piping of water into apartments, if the pipes are very old, you could have lead in the pipes. They do sell tests for water contaminants. Good Luck.

Davesnave

Adding pipework to the list of potential threats is all this thread needs now!


Some people have the ability to write with apparent intelligence, but alas, possess no common sense.

PhilE

The ceiling isn't aretx, so it probably doesn't contain asbestos. Even if it did, it would be low content.


Lead paint is more possible.
It's probably on the wood. Painting over it is no problem, its keying it that could potentially disturb the lead paint layers, and create dust.

There's a technique called wet sanding, when I get round to repainting the skirting/doors/cupboards I'll learn it.

I'd recommend contacting lipsa http://www.lipsa.org.uk/. They helped me loads with lead paint concerns.
I'd gone and sanded my skirting boards without taking precautions for lead paint. The solution; vacuum the whole house with a HZ rated vacuum, including walls and ceilings(very lightly if they contain artex). Do carpets several times. Use a swiffer (about £20 on amazon) to wipe down hard floors, walls and ceilings.
They'll probably recommend the above.

You can hire a HZ vacuum, which deals with asbestos and lead paint. I bought one for £400 from Numatic, as I'm doing a fair bit of work on 2 houses and its very handy. They also do a cheaper one that can filter lead paint, for around £200. Both are great for allergy sufferers.

For asbestos you could try https://www.nationalasbestos.co.uk/contact/. Doesn't sound like you have an asbestos concern though.