Could this be asbestos wallpaper!?!

Kysa85

Hi, 

We have just bought an old house. The day after getting the keys my husband ripped out the bath, took the tiles off and stripped the wallpaper ready for a plumber to come the next day. 

I was with the plumber today and started to bag up the wallpaper to chuck. It’s almost like board and I had to snap it into smaller pieces to bag it up and underneath this was the broken up bath panel. The plumber said he thinks the bath panel is asbestos. I am now really worried that the wallpaper is as well. Not just because I was snapping it into pieces and therefore would have inhaled it but the whole house is covered in the same material. 

The plumber wasn’t too bothered and happily went back to work but I am freaking out. I’ve come home, showered, bagged my clothes up. I know I will have to get it tested to know for certain but I’ve put a picture below in the hope someone can help calm my nerves! 

[Deleted User]

Hi.

chill, it's only old wallpaper, stuck on with paste, never heard of asbestos wallpaper.

Dustyevsky

Doubt it's my old house, but back in the 90s the cats were doing terrible things to the anaglypta with their claws. I gave it some thought, then applied a coating of glass fibre resin before re-painting in a colour remarkably similar to the one in your picture. It worked well, but when we sold, I didn't envy the person who'd have the job of stripping the stuff!.

Phil4432

No such thing as asbestos wallpaper that I know of, panel could be.

Get an asbestos company to come round and test/advise before renovations.  

Always consider asbestos, lead paint in older houses.  (Old lead paint usually found on wood)

DullGreyGuy

Phil4432 said:

No such thing as asbestos wallpaper that I know of, panel could be.

Vinyl wallpaper pre 1980s at times had small amounts of asbestos and similarly pre1940s some wallpaper paste could have it.

Section62

frugalmacdugal said:

Hi.

chill, it's only old wallpaper, stuck on with paste, never heard of asbestos wallpaper.

Sometimes used as a fire retardant in vinyl wallpaper, until about 1990.

The only way of knowing would be getting a sample tested.

GDB2222

Phil4432 said:

No such thing as asbestos wallpaper that I know of, panel could be.

Get an asbestos company to come round and test/advise before renovations.  

Always consider asbestos, lead paint in older houses.  (Old lead paint usually found on wood)

The asbestos bath panel has already been removed by the plumber. The sensible thing to do at this stage is NOT to get an asbestos company in. That means unnecessary delay. The panel should be double wrapped in plastic, and then taken to the council’s asbestos disposal facility.

In any case, it’s a cement board that has asbestos in it, tightly bound to the cement. At some stage it was sawn, which would have shed asbestos fibres, but that was decades ago. As long as it is handled carefully so as not to break it, it doesn’t need a specialist.

Section62

GDB2222 said:

Phil4432 said:

No such thing as asbestos wallpaper that I know of, panel could be.

Get an asbestos company to come round and test/advise before renovations.  

Always consider asbestos, lead paint in older houses.  (Old lead paint usually found on wood)

The asbestos bath panel has already been removed by the plumber. The sensible thing to do at this stage is NOT to get an asbestos company in. That means unnecessary delay. The panel should be double wrapped in plastic, and then taken to the council’s asbestos disposal facility.

NO.  That is absolutely the wrong advice.

If a material which is suspected of being asbestos has been disturbed then it is completely wrong to carry on working on/with it.

The correct approach is either to get a sample tested, or to get a professional removal company to come in and clear up.  Although it will be inconvenient to have restricted access to the bathroom, the delay is necessary for safety reasons - and in the event that the asbestos is one of the nastier forms, to avoid the cost of having a larger clear-up operation due to unnecessary additional contamination of the property.

GDB2222 said:

In any case, it’s a cement board that has asbestos in it, tightly bound to the cement. At some stage it was sawn, which would have shed asbestos fibres, but that was decades ago. As long as it is handled carefully so as not to break it, it doesn’t need a specialist.

I don't think there was anything about it being asbestos cement?  Although anything is possible, it isn't common for asbestos cement to be used for bath panels.  Interior panels are more likely to be something like AIB, or a manufactured panel could be a form of plastic or resin with asbestos added for strength. This could contain any combination of fibre types.

The OP was correctly advised to get the professionals in.

Niv

Asbestos paper lining is a thing, not just in vinyl wallpaper. However it is generally used as a layer on fibreboard. In domestic houses I have only found it in 'boiler rooms' and airing cupboards (including ex airing cupboards).

GDB2222

Section62 said:

GDB2222 said:

Phil4432 said:

No such thing as asbestos wallpaper that I know of, panel could be.

Get an asbestos company to come round and test/advise before renovations.  

Always consider asbestos, lead paint in older houses.  (Old lead paint usually found on wood)

The asbestos bath panel has already been removed by the plumber. The sensible thing to do at this stage is NOT to get an asbestos company in. That means unnecessary delay. The panel should be double wrapped in plastic, and then taken to the council’s asbestos disposal facility.

NO.  That is absolutely the wrong advice.

If a material which is suspected of being asbestos has been disturbed then it is completely wrong to carry on working on/with it.

The correct approach is either to get a sample tested, or to get a professional removal company to come in and clear up.  Although it will be inconvenient to have restricted access to the bathroom, the delay is necessary for safety reasons - and in the event that the asbestos is one of the nastier forms, to avoid the cost of having a larger clear-up operation due to unnecessary additional contamination of the property.

GDB2222 said:

In any case, it’s a cement board that has asbestos in it, tightly bound to the cement. At some stage it was sawn, which would have shed asbestos fibres, but that was decades ago. As long as it is handled carefully so as not to break it, it doesn’t need a specialist.

I don't think there was anything about it being asbestos cement?  Although anything is possible, it isn't common for asbestos cement to be used for bath panels.  Interior panels are more likely to be something like AIB, or a manufactured panel could be a form of plastic or resin with asbestos added for strength. This could contain any combination of fibre types.

The OP was correctly advised to get the professionals in.

We may be at cross purposes.

 Obviously, that pile of fibrous wallpaper, if it does contain asbestos, should be removed by an expert. Although, as it has presumably been removed by the homeowner or the plumber, it is all a bit late.  But, picking it up and bagging it will produce more dust, and the right vacuum cleaner needs to be used, etc.

If that does contain asbestos, then won’t the air have been full of fibres when it was scraped off the wall, and won’t that already have been carried right round the house by now? 

But, I think the consensus was that the wallpaper probably doesn’t contain asbestos, anyway?  Would be worth getting a sample checked, though.

I was really only thinking about the bath panel, I have certainly seen grey cement board used for that purpose. It is likely to contain something fibrous, so I would treat it as if it is asbestos board of some sort. 

If it’s just been unscrewed, and not broken, it’s no more dangerous than it has been for the last half century or so. HSE allow such boards to be removed by non licensed workers. The fact is that the board has already been removed. So, I can’t see why it would make sense to leave it lying around for a week or two until an expert comes round to bag it up.

GDB2222

Just out of interest, there’s a rogue’s gallery of asbestos building products here

https://www.ukata.org.uk/library/about-asbestos/asbestos-gallery/