Asbestos?

[Catwoman123]

sorry boring but I am removing tiles in my kitchen and bathroom when it occurred to me that the house is so old that could there be asbestos behind the tiles? How do I test for it? I guess my aibu is to no longer want to set for in my own kitchen until I know.
My dp thinks I should just get on with it and not worry about it.

You should be wearing a mask whenever you are doing a job like that, whatever the age of the house. Contaminants and dust exist everywhere and can cause damage. Lots of people don't. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Fortunately, these days, everyone has supplies of masks!

To test for asbestos you'd need either a home kit or a professional. Both costs money and take time. Google can tell you where to find both.

Asbestos wouldn't normally be found behind tiles thought - more likley behind walls or ceilings.

Obviously the best and fastest answer would be to let DP do the job since they aren't worried about it!

You are 100% right, there is a company that you can use, they send a kit out and you can send a number of samples for a fee and they will return the results in 48 hours and issue a certifcate.

The main risks are 1960s tiles, Artex, and stuff around the heating, and water tanks in the loft. Left undisturbed it poses no threat but moved it is dangerous, brown and blue more so, artex is less or a risk but still required to be disposed of properly.

Is it floor tiles? There are google videos that show a range of things that asbestos could be in. If you disturb it and it is asbestos you can contaminate the whole house easily.

@Moondust001

You should be wearing a mask whenever you are doing a job like that, whatever the age of the house. Contaminants and dust exist everywhere and can cause damage. Lots of people don't. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Fortunately, these days, everyone has supplies of masks!

To test for asbestos you'd need either a home kit or a professional. Both costs money and take time. Google can tell you where to find both.

Asbestos wouldn't normally be found behind tiles thought - more likley behind walls or ceilings.

Obviously the best and fastest answer would be to let DP do the job since they aren't worried about it!

Asbestos can be found in 1960s floor tiles, and in the adhesive i think.

@Nuttagblz

Yes, you are right. I was thinking wall tiles because of the description, but it could be floor tiles. I am not sure about those.

Even so, it is surprising how many people don't wear masks when doing jobs like this, and asbestos isn't the only thing out there. Even normal household builders dust can cause problems for people.

It's wall tiles all.atound the kitchen and they are very very old

I didn't know about the home kits thank you ill look them up now.

Asbestos can be in filler, I have stopped half way through stripping my bedroom paper as there is old filler in the walls that now needs testing.
Hopefully you won’t find it in your tile grout. Our house was full of artex but only one ceiling had asbestos. We had it professionally removed before we moved in, but we could have had it skimmed too. Asbestos is really common in houses , basically lots of things can have it in, and it was used up to the eighties.
Main culprits in my experience seem to be artex, filler, sheets around solid fuel stoves.
And that is before you get onto lead .....

OK so I've spoken to my builder and he says because the tiles are ceramic it's not likely that there's any asbestos in there..I still feel anxious about it though . The kitchen and bathroom are both being completely redone soon..I'm just going to leave it to my dp for now!