Buying an untouched 60s house - ASBESTOS?

Bigphil1474

I'd disagree. I think if you can identify asbestos in your property and get rid of it, then you aren't just making it safer for you, you are making sure it can never affect anyone in your property.

If all you do is cover it up, even if it is done properly, it's still there to potentially cause people issues some time in the future. Cost is key of course.

In my opinion - it's better to get it sorted in situ than to do nothing, but getting rid is the better option. I've been to a few jobs over the years where people have smashed walls down, or removed ceilings, where there is asbestos material they didn't know about, and that's in commercial premises who are supposed to maintain a register of asbestos in the premises. If you buy a house, how would you ever know that there is asbestos containing artex that has been skimmed over, or there's a wall panel of ACM behind some plasterboard in the bedroom. There's no legal requirement to pass that information on, and the seller might not even know if it was done years before.

SepherYetzirah

I'm in a similar situation. I had a Technical Inspector in a 60s flat in the Netherlands and, despite empanhasizing that certainty only with a lab analysys, he's very confident that there are asbestos in the ventilation ducts, both in the kitchen, bathroom and toilet (separate).

General knowledge says that if we don't touch it is ok, but I am a bit concerned that the material - if asbestos - may already be more than 60 years old and is subject to temperature variations, steam and air flows. From what I read, the lyfecycle can be 30 years on average, up to 50.

I'm already thinking that, should we buy, at least an asbestos inspection will have to be done.

Albermarle

GDB2222 said:

About 1% of UK deaths are due to Mesothelioma at the moment, and that proportion is gradually dropping as the peak asbestos usage was in the 60-70's period. Men are roughly 5-10 times more likely than women to get Mesothelioma, most probably because far more men than women were employed in building and similar jobs. 

It's not obvious why spending a lot of money to eradicate asbestos in your home is sensible. Could that money be more effectively spent on a safer car, for example?  Or, on gym membership or following the mediterranean diet? 

Do not forget also that some people actually worked in factories where the pure asbestos was processed/mixed with other materials and there the death rate was of course much much higher compared even to people using asbestos containing products.

According to Wikipedia, the number of UK containing some asbestos containing products could be as high as 50%.

jonnydeppiwish!

My last builder (bloody good but took a long time to do things) used to paint spray bits of asbestos and wouldn’t round them till I had removed them. 

I was digging a large hole at the time…….