Possible asbestos in artex wall

P933alilli

I have an old bungalow which has artex in a wall in the kitchen which ive been told may have asbestos fibres within it. Problem is ive recently had a rewire so part of the chasing was done in that wall before the cables were run through and then finally re-plastered. So, the asbestos, if its there, will have been disturbed temporarily and the fibres become airbound. I swept the area and vacuumed it after the re-plaster job.

  Now i need it painting and decorating and i'm just thinking of having the wall painted all over. To compound matters i may have a new kitchen which would involve pulling up the old floor tiles from the 1960's. I dont think the tiles are artex but i'm not 100% positive and neither do i know what is underneath them.

    Ive been quoted £225+ vat to take samples from the wall and tiles and wondered if this was reasonable? Obviously it should have been tested for asbestos before the rewire. Do, i need to worry about it now that any exposure, however brief, will have been done? Can a new floor be laid on top of the existing tiles?

JohnB47

Maybe think of sorting a test yourself? I searched and found a company supplying protective gear and lab testing for £49.95 inc vat.

I wouldn't think floor tiles would be artex or have asbestos in them but I'm no expert. Yes you could tile over old tiles but it may raise the level in the kitchen too much.

bjorn_toby_wilde

Some floor tiles did have asbestos in them (not artex) during the 60’s and 70’s.

If the bungalow dates from the early 60’s then the tiles might also have been used instead of a DPM, which is an added complication. I believe DPMs only became compulsory in the mid ‘60’s

stuart45

It was the Thermoplastic tiles that contained asbestos. DPM's were made compulsory in the 65 building regs.

Lorian

JohnB47 said:

Maybe think of sorting a test yourself? I searched and found a company supplying protective gear and lab testing for £49.95 inc vat.

I wouldn't think floor tiles would be artex or have asbestos in them but I'm no expert. Yes you could tile over old tiles but it may raise the level in the kitchen too much.

If its the same company I've used I think there is an extra £15 charge for the second sample.