AIBU to be freaking out about asbestos

[Pixiedusty]

Posting here for traffic as I'm hoping to have some different perspectives.

We are renovating and whilst the floor board upstairs was removed, the plumber dropped something which crashed through to the ceiling downstairs creating two fairly sizable holes. The builders then came to attempt to patch the holes up by sawing through the ceiling, so dust everywhere.

We sent a sample of the ceiling for testing as we wanted extra peace of mind and lo and behold it came back positive for chrysotile. It was very much a WTF moment as everything we've been told up to that point (by previous owner, the asbestos specialist who checked the house soon after we moved in, and the builders rectifying the ceiling) led us to believe the ceiling in question was new and therefore no asbestos.

I know asbestos if left undisturbed is not harmful but now it's very much disturbed and causing much anxiety. Our builder is suggesting whilst not ideal, but since the ceiling had already been skimmed over (no artex visible) it was not too problematic. We have also contacted the original asbestos specialist to ask why the findings appear different.

AIBU to be freaking out about this?

Bumping for you as I'd be worried too.
Hopefully someone will be able to offer something calming.

Aww thank you xx

I’d get another new expert in to asses if it needs removing. Do not let the builders do anything until it’s been assessed.

But your builder is right - if it’s in the ceiling and I disturbed it’s not a problem

We had an almost identical situation to you OP. Having done a bit of research, I think a one off exposure won't do too much damage ( hopefully)... I guess what's done is done, and the same thing applies to us. Obviously try not to disturb the ceiling again unless you're completely reassured, although obviously what's happened wasn't planned. I imagine this kind of thing is actually very common.

There are different ‘levels’ of examination and testing by specialist asbestos analysts. Some testing is intrusive ie dig down below the materials you can see and some are non intrusive.The asbestos specialist (possibly ) would not have sampled the ceiling materials underneath where it has been skimmed - if the tests requested were ‘none intrusive’. I assume your builder requested the sampling / testing? Any report would have made this clear - so if the report says categorically no asbestos then absolutely they should be explaining what’s happened.

The builder however should know that where intrusive sampling/testing isn’t done you have to ‘presume’ asbestos and proceed with caution. They have not behaved well and seem to be playing it down now.
I understand you are now anxious.
Have they now removed the asbestos?

You could ( I would) ask your builder to arrange a full clean and decontamination of the rooms and air testing to give you reassurance that asbestos fibres remaining are low/are gone. This might mean you have to leave overnight to get this done and await results etc. All this will be at their expense.

Health wise as I’m sure you know it can take decades for any health effects to show themselves - if at all. You could talk to your GP and an occupational health doctor for advice though .

I wouldn’t worry too much if a one off incident, my father in law died of asbestosis in his seventies, apparently as a teen he used to come home covered in the stuff, I think it takes a lot more than what you may have been exposed to.

OP, what's the percentage? Our electricians asked us to test before starting a rewiring and our ceiling came back positive for Chrysotile. I was terrified at first as we had (accidentally) damaged it quite badly.
However, when the electricians saw the report, they said it was absolutely fine. The percentage was so low, they were happy to start working.

Think about how many millions of houses in the UK have ceilings that contain asbestos and how many of those ceilings must have been disturbed by building works over the past 60 years. And yet we're not all dropping dead from asbestosis.

Thanks all for the replies so far.

@Waterfallgirl we did the sample test on our own accord as DP was paranoid, even though our original specialist did not detect artex in this particular ceiling (but he identified others in the house that had been skimmed over, so honestly not sure what happened there). The builders were adamant that it didn't look like it was skimmed over artex ceiling when they decided to saw....with the benefit of hindsight we should have insisted they waited until we got the test results back before they did anything.

It actually happened over the weekend and we are only just panicking now bc of the positive test that came back yesterday afternoon, so unfortunately whatever was in the air since (and crap that have been falling through the gaps in the ceiling) have probably all but inhaled by us already. Will still arrange the air test and decon clean though.

@SignOnTheWindow actually good point, the lab we sent to didn't give us a percentage. Is it a different test that we need to do to get a percentage? We just got a cheap-ish one online as we thought it should be coming back negative 😫

Are you living/sleeping in the property still, or living elsewhere whilst the renovations are going on? If living elsewhere, I'd get a specialist in to deep clean of everything before you move back in.

We are renovating an old property with artex is every room, asbestos on a derelict garage and the lovely surprise was to find sheets of partially buried asbestos in the garden, left by previous owner! Thanks for that 😡

We had an asbestos 'specialist' come to analyse and he sent off samples of the artex. He said, and I quote 'If I check too many places, it will bound to be positive, but if I only check 1-2 places, it might be negative' WTF!!!!😳

I'd read that having a reading of, or level of asbestos concentration is irrelevant. Its there or not. The shards can break down to such miniscule lengths. I did read that multiple exposures are worse than a 1 off, but I agree, its worrying.

I'd be very interested in what your initial 'specialist' says.

Sorry I can't help, but a hopeful bump anyways. x

@MarmiteCoriander we are still living in the property as the majority of the works are upstairs and we are living downstairs. Which was fine until the plumber decided to crash through the ceiling!!

Very WTF indeed re what your specialist told you. We've not had a response from our initial specialist on why there is a discrepancy in his assessment and that of the lab's, most likely bc he wouldn't want to admit he was wrong until he hears back from the lab (though honestly at this point I don't even know who to trust anymore).

It's good to hear about all your stories. x

This is why I hate the practice if skimming over artex ceilings without having to at least have it noted that artex is underneath and asbestos may be present
It just hides it and some other poor bugger uncovers it later
Same as overboarding it , it should at least have to be registered somewhere what has happened

@worriedatthistime this is very true. Or maybe one should always proceed on the basis that there is asbestos in houses of a certain vintage regardless of what anyone else says 🙄😩

@Pixiedusty yes possibly but when you see artex it comes to mine instantly for many
I think lots of homeowners aren't really even aware of it
I think asbestos surveys should be a must have for a mortgage as well as it makes people a little more aware at least
I know lots if people who have no idea where asbestos my be found , you see all these diy programmes on tv and they never mention it but one of the Canadian / American one always does

More houses in the uk prob contain asbestos somewhere than don't really
But you paid for a survey so you would expect to get the right info , many people don't get surveys and not all builders seem as up on it as they are supposed to be

@worriedatthistime quite right - and I really have no recourse against him for getting it wrong in the first place 😢

Obviously had we known there could be artex there we would've cleared out straight away and not go back in until the clean up was properly done.

Many houses are likely to likely to contain asbestos if they were built before the mid 1980s