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Would you go to someone's house if they'd just had asbestos removed?

71 replies

Cheesemachine · 13/08/2018 15:10

Hello, I'm hoping for some opinions. I'm due to visit an old uni friend's this weekend with my family and I discovered last night via a text exchange that they've just had some asbestos removed in the entrance to their house (apparently the ceiling there was asbestos insulation board). They've had it all done by a professional firm which and cost ££££ but since then I've wondered if I should really take my children there in case there is any danger - it's my understanding that they can't get rid of literally ever single fibre that may have been released in the removal process.

A couple of other friends are due to go too with their families and having spoken to one of them she is not concerned and thinks I'm being a bit OTT in considering not going. But is it worth the risk? And friend who's house it is also believes it to be completely safe (although she's not really going to think otherwise is she!)

We've not all got together for years and pinning a date down is always difficult so it would probably mean not seeing them all together for a long time.

Thanks for reading and I would be grateful of your opinions

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Pinkandyellowandgreen · 13/08/2018 16:17

Can't you arrange to go out for the day - meet at a local attraction or restaurant or play centre or theme park? stay in hotel if its overnight?

I know its probably irrational but if it was me and it had just been removed, I wouldn't be going there so proximate to when it was done just in case.

Nutkins24 · 13/08/2018 16:19

I’m a bit paranoid about asbestos (it was in my office crumbling off a pipe for years, apparently no one knew) and I’d still go. I think it’s very very unlikely you’d be exposed to a dangerous level, especially if it’s been removed professionally. In truth it’s in most old buildings somewhere. We are all probably exposed to tiny amounts all the time. And it sounds like it was the least dangerous type.

ToeTouchingTitties · 13/08/2018 16:23

I wouldn’t worry if it’s been professionally removed. Depending on the type of asbestos and it’s form, stringent control measures would've been followed.

Asbestos is naturally occurring in low levels in the air, water and soil all around us. It’s only when there is prolonged, repeat exposure that the chances of asbestos related diseases increase. Otherwise, almost all of us would suffer from one in our middle to later years.

Nutkins24 · 13/08/2018 16:24

I know of plenty of people, usually farmers, who are happy to dig a big pit and deal with it themselves to save the money - those are the places to be worried about!

Yep common practice. I think it’s legal to burry it on farmland though? Someone I knew however was renovating a house to sell on. They crushed up a large concrete asbestos garage and buried it in the garden of the house, the poor souls that purchased it (for a lot of money) have no idea. I tried reporting it to the local authority and nothing was ever done by environmental health. I’ve never forgiven them and had to cut contact.

Cheesemachine · 13/08/2018 16:27

@Nutkins24 that's fucking awful!! I would do the same as you and cut contact with people like that!

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House4 · 13/08/2018 16:30

I'd go and I'm a worrier! It's been done professionally and it will have had at least a week to settle down and the air to clear.

Cheesemachine · 13/08/2018 16:32

I've been told that the type of asbestos was asbestos insulation boards that made up part of the ceiling and that apparently contains brown asbestos and does always require a professional to remove with an enclosure etc which is what was done.

With regards to meeting elsewhere, I would definitely have suggested if others weren't going to but there are a few families meeting up and friend is keen to show us new house and the renovations so far. I had been really excited and now a little apprehensive but I do feel that it is irrational judging by most of the responses on here. I haven't had a conversation with DH about it yet but I know he wouldn't be concerned already (I'll be shocked if he is anyway!)

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Cheesemachine · 13/08/2018 16:38

*too

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IamPickleRick · 13/08/2018 16:42

It’s usually safer in situ, it’s often allowed to stay on the basis that it is covered with the right paint to keep it safe. When it is removed the fibers can be released but I’d assume that the professional removers dealt with the clean up too.

If it was pipe work kn a cupboard it probably just came away in a big piece. In the loft it may have had more opportunity to get around the place. I’d leave it a bit too tbh.

Jupiter9 · 13/08/2018 16:54

I wouldn't take the kids. If you go i would wear a gas mask.

Jupiter9 · 13/08/2018 16:55

Be safe and good luck.

SparkyBlue · 13/08/2018 16:55

My parents recently had some professionally removed. It didn't even cross my mind not to visit afterwards

Upsy1981 · 13/08/2018 17:04

As someone who has had a substantial amount of asbestos removed by professionals, they cannot sign off the work until they have tested the air and the levels safe. I would absolutely go. As soon as the professionals had left our house telling me they had completed their checks, I went back in. My FIL died of asbestosis (from his job not from a house) so I am fully aware of the risks.

SilverHairedCat · 13/08/2018 17:10

Look, I'm a H&S professional FWIW. I know anyone can be anything on the Internet, but that's what I do for a living. I deal with the contractors who remove this stuff, day in and day out as part of my job. I inspect their work. I inspect their equipment. I look at their working methods, systems, management, supervision standards, control methods, the lot. Its a highly regarded industry. If the work was done by a licensed contractor, it was very likely done to an extremely high standard.

A short description of what happens:
It will have been done inside a thick plastic enclosure, held under negative pressure to keep all fibres inside it. The AIB will have been removed in as large and intact a piece as possible to minimise the release of fibres from the asbestos board.

The workers will have undergone significant decontamination processes before leaving the enclosure at any timr. The waste will have been double bagged inside the enclosure and the outside decontaminated before being removed from the enclosure to be appropriately disposed of.

The area around the board will have been decontaminated and cleaned, then sealed to ensure any stray fibres cannot be released in future.

Then the whole enclosure will have been cleaned.

Only then is the analyst brought in. They are an independent company, and check the work, check for fibres in the work area carry out an air check, then run an air test and check for fibres under a microscope. If it passes, the enclosure is taken down. If it fails, the workers go back in to clean up and the analyst does the check from the beginning again.

It's a rigorous test.

However, please be aware that there are always asbestos fibres in the air, even when walking down the street and in new build houses, so you NEVER get an absolute zero result except in clean rooms in laboratories.

So be careful if you read the certificates, as they WILL show some fibres on the count. This is legal, and normal.

SilverHairedCat · 13/08/2018 17:11

*regarded = regulated

ourkidmolly · 13/08/2018 17:14

The school I work in is having asbestos removed this summer from the school hall ceiling so that's 1500 pupils that will be 'exposed' post works in September. Chill out. It's all around us in places we wouldn't imagine and we can't control. You're in more danger of being hit by a car getting to your mates.

Cheesemachine · 13/08/2018 17:16

@SilverHairedCat thank you for taking the time to write that. All very reassuring and good to know.

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AndNoneForGretchenWieners · 13/08/2018 17:17

I have had to deal with asbestos in a school recently, so learnt a fair bit about the removal process. They will have to pass a clean air test to sign the works off as completed, so that means that the majority of particulates that were disturbed were removed. There may be some that settle during the removal process but most professional asbestos companies will include a clean as part of the service to make it as safe as possible. I would go.

AndNoneForGretchenWieners · 13/08/2018 17:19

ourkid is your school transferring to a new trust? Wonder if it's the one I mentioned?

Jupiter9 · 13/08/2018 17:26

Still wouldn't risk your chikdrens health. Stay safe and good luck.

Jupiter9 · 13/08/2018 17:28

I know a young man who's in b early twenties who's just lost a lung because of this. Be safe.

Cheesemachine · 13/08/2018 17:28

@Jupiter9 what is your reasoning behind this? And gas masks??? Really? Now that would make my friend think I was batshit crazy!

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Cheesemachine · 13/08/2018 17:29

Ok, cross posted. Fair enough

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EngTech · 13/08/2018 17:30

If it was removed professionally, there would be the associated admin in place confirming it was ok

PhoebeFriends · 13/08/2018 17:36

But not an original WW2 gas mask Jupiter - as they have asbestos inside which will have deteriorated over time and will now be harmful - felt I should mention this as there are some about in museums etc and it is tempting for children to try them on.

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