Gas Fitters made huge hole - possible asbestos?

mrsmsebastian

Two months ago, we have had a full central heating system installed in our property by Gas installers sent by a consultant company. Our gas meter is located outside our property so they connected a gas pipe from the gas meter, drilled a hole from the soffit to run to our loft and down to the walls. The problem is they made a huge hole which they did not cover after they are done with the job. We were thinking to sort it out after we are done with more jobs that needs doing in the house. Then Electrician came and done a full re-wire in our property and noticed the hole and mentioned to me that it looks like an asbestos but he is not 100% sure. So I made sure to remember to contact the company who did our cental heating after the full re-wire is done. A gas safe engineer came to install our cooker and seen the hole as well and again mentioned the hole and think that it is an asbestos.
So I email the company and said that the gas installers they sent created a huge hole in property and two tradesmen suspect that it's an asbestos. I asked them why their gas installers never thought that the soffit could be an asbestos and was reckless of creating a massive hole without even covering it after the job done. They were apologetic and said the installers did a visible check and did not think that it is an asbestos but cannot be 100% sure as it they don't test for Asbestos. They are offering £200 to get me fix it myself. 
My question is are they really liable for the damage they have done for disturbing the asbestos in the soffit (if it's actually an asbestos) and should I ask them to fix it themselves instead of me accepting the money and fix it myself? I am just worried that if I accept the money the cost is actually much higher and I end up paying much more so I would rather let them fix it.
Please see pictures and tell me what do you think and if you can give me rough idea of the cost to get it tested and rectified.

grumbler

IMO, regardless of whether it's asbestos or not, they didn't need such a big hole, made it accidentally and should have repaired it. I'd insist on them fixing it.

Jeepers_Creepers

https://www.ggf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/_pda/securepdfs/2018/02/Code_of_Practice_Work_with_Domestic_Soffits_ad_Raiwater_Goods_Containing_Asbestos_Cement-2.pdf

That is butchery - what a job!

Is that asbestos cement? Hard to be certain without it being tested, but it certainly looks like it - that slightly fibrous core. How dangerous is it? In reality, usually not very unless you do something silly like grind/drill/saw it and breathe the dust. That is not to say the situation here should be taken lightly, and there must be rules governing how it is handled, which they almost certainly neglected.

Looks like they had no concern for themselves, either - just took a hammer to it?! No excuse - these guys must come across this a lot - taking gas pipes through soffits and other panels that surround old boilers - they MUST have had training! Surely?

What to do? I'm not dismissing the seriousness of this, but - first of all - I personally wouldn't worry about my or my family's health. The guys broke this panel in a clumsy way, but it's outside and the reality is there will be only tiny amounts of potential asbestos released at the time; the actual risk to you or anyone now must be very very very small. (The risk to the idiots involved will also almost certainly be small since the asbestos content is usually very small, is usually the 'less-harmful' 'white', and it was done outside. But still very silly to take the risk.)

What to do? If it'll look ok, I think I'd personally get a length of PVC soffit that'll span however far you want it to to look decent (could be just beyond the hole size, or much longer if you think it'll look better), drill a neat 22mm hole in it for the pipe, and slot it over there, gluing it in place. And then forget about it.

Asb-cement soffits are very common in houses, as is asbestos-cement garage roofs, Artex, etc. Provided you don't do anything 'silly' with it, it is generally safe as it's contained within in the material.

This is your call. I reckon you'd be entitled to have them out to fix it properly, but I've no idea what that would involve. Do you have LegProt on your house insurance? If so, you could always call them for advice - and to pressurise the company should you decide to go that way.

What a dreadful job they made of it tho'. I also suspect they are pooing themselves in case you report them.

Jeepers_Creepers

Fixing it would likely involve them cutting the soffit across where joists sit either side of that hole, removing the damaged section, and replacing it with similar PVC - perhaps that's the best call after all.

mrsmsebastian

Jeepers_Creepers said:

https://www.ggf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/_pda/securepdfs/2018/02/Code_of_Practice_Work_with_Domestic_Soffits_ad_Raiwater_Goods_Containing_Asbestos_Cement-2.pdf

That is butchery - what a job!

Is that asbestos cement? Hard to be certain without it being tested, but it certainly looks like it - that slightly fibrous core. How dangerous is it? In reality, usually not very unless you do something silly like grind/drill/saw it and breathe the dust. That is not to say the situation here should be taken lightly, and there must be rules governing how it is handled, which they almost certainly neglected.

Looks like they had no concern for themselves, either - just took a hammer to it?! No excuse - these guys must come across this a lot - taking gas pipes through soffits and other panels that surround old boilers - they MUST have had training! Surely?

What to do? I'm not dismissing the seriousness of this, but - first of all - I personally wouldn't worry about my or my family's health. The guys broke this panel in a clumsy way, but it's outside and the reality is there will be only tiny amounts of potential asbestos released at the time; the actual risk to you or anyone now must be very very very small. (The risk to the idiots involved will also almost certainly be small since the asbestos content is usually very small, is usually the 'less-harmful' 'white', and it was done outside. But still very silly to take the risk.)

What to do? If it'll look ok, I think I'd personally get a length of PVC soffit that'll span however far you want it to to look decent (could be just beyond the hole size, or much longer if you think it'll look better), drill a neat 22mm hole in it for the pipe, and slot it over there, gluing it in place. And then forget about it.

Asb-cement soffits are very common in houses, as is asbestos-cement garage roofs, Artex, etc. Provided you don't do anything 'silly' with it, it is generally safe as it's contained within in the material.

This is your call. I reckon you'd be entitled to have them out to fix it properly, but I've no idea what that would involve. Do you have LegProt on your house insurance? If so, you could always call them for advice - and to pressurise the company should you decide to go that way.

What a dreadful job they made of it tho'. I also suspect they are pooing themselves in case you report them.

I told them I asked the Building Regulation to inspect their work in our property eventhough they reported it that their comply with the building regulation and probably the reason why they offer me £200 to get myself fix it. There were 2 installers who came to our property, the engineer was okay although was not great and the other one is reckless. He made our ceiling leak with water at one point when he forgot to close the valve in the loft. He was the one who butchered the soffit too

Phil4432

I've had a similar thing happen.
Just to save you time;  Building Control will do nothing, is that's what they do.  You'll be hard pressed to find any organization in Britain; Gas Safe etc, who give a damn.

The company just need to declare themselves bankrupt, and change their name to get away with this.

Firstly, get an asbestos company right now to come over, and inspect.  Then speak to a solicitor.  If that's high content asbestos, its very serious.