Hi Barbell medicine most properties before 2000 have asbestos in them in the UK in the form of Artic in ceilings and maybe Walls and in floor tiles. I’ve been told that as long as the asbestos is not disturbed this is completely safe since the fibres of asbestos stay within the material. I have had surveys on a property I am buying that indicates the asbestos is in them but it says there is a very low risk of fibres being released.
My question is to the doctors and other medical professionals here is it foolish to purchase a property, while knowing abestos is present even if the risk of exposure from it being practically none?
Right now in the property I live in I notice the Kitchen has Artex on the kitchen ceiling, which has white asbestos within it along with many other materials
I don’t know, sorry. Not my area of expertise.
Hi Peter,
Obviously this isn’t medical advice, but as a fellow purchaser of a UK home I sympathise.
Unless you stick to a relatively new-build post-2000 home, this may always be an issue.
I will say, having dealt with a collapsed ceiling incorporating about 10 layers of plaster/paint since 1937, and having taken apart a garage with a 1970s asbestos cement tile roof, that handling it is straightforward.
The artex is presumably painted-over, so that itself will shield you from exposure. If you intend to smooth-skim it, that will seal it all away. You just need to make sure the ceiling can hold the extra weight of a layer of plaster and paint (my ceiling didn’t, but that was helped along by about 200 gallons of water soaking into it).
Any tradespeople working on it need to be familiar with handling, and not needlessly destroy any of it, or should they remove it in pieces, they should know how to double-wrap and seal any debris - such low-grade asbestos doesn’t need a special licence but make sure they aren’t cowboys either. Your local council will have guidelines for who and how to dispose of any material as you legally need to keep your proof of removal for 3 years.
Thank you very much doc jitters. I have had a offer accepted on a two bed maisonette (leasehold property) but a abestos survey discovered that it was in the floor tiles in the kitchen (completely covered with laminate flooring) and in the tiles in entry in the property (mainly covered in laminate flooring). Its ceilings are made with artex. The survey had a very low material score for most of it with a low score for the soffit board above the front door. The Abestos fibres trapped in the material are Chrysotile and amosite (though that is only in the softboard along with Chrysotile).
Sorry what’s skimming in relation to this? I have seen this all over the internet but not sure what it is. Is it plastering it?
Yes, skim is just a new layer of plaster to make an even surface (my house ceiling had wallpaper over artex lol) as opposed to new sand/cement on brick or plaster on boards.
Anyway, HSE guidance is available online ( Asbestos - HSE ) - might help to check any General contractor for their level of knowledge - but you could probably do the basics yourself with PPE and rent a Class H vac if the property is empty.
If you are planning a full renovation, I would definitely get a proper contractor assessment (and don’t play wheely-chair-races on bare asbestos tile floor like my old chemistry teacher in the 1960s!).