question about possible asbestos on ceiling

[stilllovingmysleep]

We recently bought a house & have begun building work in it (no kitchen / bathroom and yet the costs are spiralling a bit already!) Anyway, a question I have is the following.

In the survey it was flagged up that there may be possibly some asbestos in decorative areas of ceiling. If any work will be done on ceiling, this will need to be checked either by a contractor who has license / experience in working with asbestos OR by bringing in an asbestos specialist.

I had forgotten all about this & begun the work with contractor recommended and trustworthy (only one day done so far) who however doesn't have license in working with asbestos. It hadn't occurred to me that ceilings will be involved in work. But they will, as the major thing we're doing is taking out 2 chimney breasts in ground & first floor which affects ceilings. (We are now in process of party wall agreement for that & also getting engineer in to check it's all done well). The ceilings will also need replastering / repainting.

Given that the costs as I said are already spiralling (as usually happens I suppose, although the actual building work is costed very precisely, but there's all these extras) please could you advise on the quickest & of course safest step we could take on this to make sure there's no asbestos or if there is to get rid of it before ceilings are touched? Thanks. This needs to be done fairly urgently as if chimney breasts don't come off no other work can really proceed.

Arrrgghhh the building work is stressing me already & we're only one day in

[SeveredHeadsDragOnTheFloor]

Presumably this refers to artex or similar. Not all varieties contain asbestos as I understand it and there are companies who will come and test it to check.

[stilllovingmysleep]

thanks SeveredHeads. Do you know of any such companies in London? And do they cost the earth & the moon? Do they come quickly IYE or (heaven forbid) do they need to be booked months in advance?

I now feel completely stupid that the asbestos question escaped my attention but there it is.

[SeveredHeadsDragOnTheFloor]

Sorry, I reallydontknow. It's just information I have gleaned from property renovation programmes on TV!

Have you asked your contractors if they know anyone?

[stilllovingmysleep]

no problem SeveredHeads. Yes we're now investigating the issue with contractor / surveyor. Hopefully it's nothing but let's see.

I wonder if others have any advice?

[BetaVersion]

Take a very small sample and send it off to be tested. We did this and cost us £25.

Dont just believe what your contractor says get it independently tested. Also the surveyor is just covering their liability. Artex can have asbestos in if it was done in 1970s. Paint in old houses is often described by surveyors a s possibly containing lead. Any sheet panels near boilers are often described as potentially containing asbestos and it is almost always or mostly about covering legal liabilities.

[SmellTheGlove]

We just had the artex skimmed over. Builder never asked about it when he was taking out the chimney in that room and plasterer didn't either. All my lead pipes in my Victorian house are probably poisonous too but it's a risk I'm prepared to live with, and I'm guessing the various contractors are too as they didn't bat an eyelid...

[stilllovingmysleep]

we managed to find independent person who will go in today to test whether it is or isn't asbestos (cost 125£ plus VAT). At least it happened quickly & that's good.

If it is asbestos on ceiling, that means I was told it needs to be completely cleared from ceiling which a specialised company has to do .

And the money keeps rolling in......................... Or rather rolling out.

[SeveredHeadsDragOnTheFloor]

Fingers crossed that it was just the surveyor covering their back. They do tend to list everything that could potentially be wrong.

[stilllovingmysleep]

In the end there was no asbestos in ceiling. Hurray!

[SoupDragon]

Hurrah!