Should I test for asbestos?

nisob

Hi,

I had an asbestos survey done on my property back in 2022 mainly for awareness/management if required. 1970s house, not sure but most likely council property.

The report stated that the cement flue in the loft potentially carries asbestos but sample was not taken to avoid distrubance.

Today, i noticed the jointing fire cement which connects the flue pipe to the flue outlet is slightly broken and bits from it have falled on the mdf floor board. I have never touched the pipe but the roof fabric over it has slight tear somehow. I am guessing it is the wind entering is flexing the pipe. I have not seen rain water coming in. Could the fire cements also contain asbestos? Is it safe to use a diy kit and test it myself. I used google Gemini and it is telling me to call for professional asbestos survey.

Pictures of the pipe attached. I have zoomed in to show the creamish colour fire cement.

Kind Regards

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Niv

Hi,

The cement flue is almost certainly asbestos as your report states - not really worth testing it as the damage it would cause would outweigh 'knowing from a lab result' - far easier to just treat it as if it were imo. The fire cement - its very difficult to tell from photos but using the logic that the metal flue was installed sometime after asbestos was banned and therefore the fire cement was likely installed at that time to bond the asbestos pipe to the metal pipe then I would say it is less likely to be asbestos. It is possible that it is however so I would proceed with some caution.

Now - question to you - why test it? What will that achieve for you? There is a chance that you contaminate the sample with pipe material and you get a false positive, also a chance that in trying to take a sample you disturb the fire cement and some falls off etc. And if positive it will need either removal, repair, encapsulation anyway.

What I would do, as you are obviously concerned, is to encapsulate it by using a thick heat resistant flexible asbestos encapsulation paint. Then dispose of the brush and remaining paint as if it were asbestos contaminated. (it will be a big tub of paint so I would decant some into a disposable container rather than throw out the whole tin as you can keep the rest for future use).

Niv - ex asbestos surveyor, ID, and air clearance.