Plasterer scraped artex ceiling AFTER being told it had asbestos

JaneDonut

Edit: situation now sorted

grumbler

"Removing textured coatings, like artex, is non-licensed work, but this doesn't mean it is safe or that no controls need to be in place. You still need to be trained for this work."
https://www.haspod.com/blog/asbestos/asbestos-artex-ceiling-risk

JaneDonut

Thanks for this - yes I'm aware that you need to be trained to work with asbestos if you're disturbing it - even if it is the "low risk" white asbestos in artex. He apparently didn't even use a mask :-/ There's now likely to be asbestos dust all over our house. I don't know what to do.

Aylesbury_Duck

If you're worried, stay somewhere else tonight and then ask someone to come and test what you believe to be asbestos.

PasturesNew

There will be costs to clear this up and sort it out.

Where did you find him? Is he a firm?
"Everybody" knows the word asbestos = danger. A plasterer should know more than anybody else.
It's inexcusable, but the bottom line is: do you have anything in writing so you can sue him for your costs?

suki1964

How old is the Artex?

JaneDonut

We don't believe it to be asbestos, we know it. We had it tested.

Don't know how old the artex is but the property is from the 1930s.

We found the plasterer on checkatrade - he had good reviews....

Aylesbury_Duck

JaneDonut wrote: »

We don't believe it to be asbestos, we know it. We had it tested.

Don't know how old the artex is but the property is from the 1930s.

We found the plasterer on checkatrade - he had good reviews....

In which case, only you can decide if you want to stay there tonight or not, but you're going to need to call a professional first thing tomorrow to check for contamination and clean up if it exists.

ceredigion

JaneDonut wrote: »

Help! I left our plasterer to skim over our lounge ceiling today whilst I was at work and he has chipped off large chunks of the textured artex ceiling, left it all over the floor and then skimmed it. This is AFTER I told him it had white asbestos in it! He then SWEPT it up and chucked the stuff in the bin. Surely this is all highly illegal because he's not asbestos licensed and he shouldn't have put asbestos in the regular bin?! What should I do? I'm now really worried the entire family is breathing in dangerous asbestos and I don't know what to do.

How do you know if you where at work.

suki1964

JaneDonut wrote: »

We don't believe it to be asbestos, we know it. We had it tested.

Don't know how old the artex is but the property is from the 1930s.

We found the plasterer on checkatrade - he had good reviews....

Both my dad and now my husband both worked/work with asbestos

Why didn't you get a professional company in to sort it out?

Yes I do know it just needed plastering over but obviously the plasterer didn't understand about asbestos, did you question him? Ask him how he was planning on carrying out the work?

I also have worked in a building where the asbestos was leaking, a girlfriend of mine was raising hens in an old barn on her land with damaged asbestos. It happens that we are often more exposed to it then we should be

as before, only you can decide the risk of staying there tonight and every night till you get it cleaned, Its not going to be cheap and its not going to be quick. I think you need to ring your insurance company for assistance

JaneDonut

Because I got home and saw lots of white bits on the floor and asked what it was and he said he had been scraping off all the peaks of the artex