To pull out of house purchase for this? Or am I crazy

[Newhome25]

This is causing huge amounts of stress with me and DH. I am six months pregnant and I do have anxiety so I realise this could be playing into my fears. We found a great house in the area we want. There’s barely any for sale and it’s not a forever home but a great start and perfect for life for the three of us for now. We have got to the stage where searches are happening and I said I wanted a damp survey and asbestos survey as the house was built in 70s.

Damp survey really reassuring but the asbestos one says there’s asbestos on the roof (described as sheets) and on the garage and on the plan it looks like also around where the guttering sits. These are all apparently stable and the roof is in ok condition generally. However, this still makes me feel sick with anxiety. The worst one is that parts of the loft have been filled in with filler that contains asbestos. We’ve been advised that these should be covered and the sellers have said they will sort this before the sale goes through. But… I’ve been reading into it and now I’m in full panic mode that if the areas haven’t been covered previously then little bits could have come off and be inside the house now. I’ve read even one bit could be dangerous. I can’t get it out of my head and want to pull out of the sale. DH is saying I’m crazy and he can’t proceed with it if im going to be like this but equally he feels we’ve spend hundreds on surveys and should just take the advice to get the problem areas covered and then get on with our lives. The surveyor has been re assuring but he’s not the one going to live there.

I have been worrying so much and just don’t feel comfortable exposing our baby to this. Am I being crazy? Is this a pregnancy induced panic that I will regret if we pull out? Please help!

If you are not ever going to be comfortable there you are better pulling out now to avoid wasting yours and the seller's time. I understand your concerns. Buy a house you feel comfortable and safe to live in instead.

Honestly only you can decide. I wouldn’t be happy with the volume of absestos you’ve described. It will be a big job to deal with it properly, and given it’s not a forever home it would be too much hassle for me.

Many of us live in houses with absestos, often in artex etc, it’s fine if undisturbed but a bit of a pain to remodel etc.

OP only a house built after 2000 in UK will be guaranteed asbestos free.
There are firms that can do air tests, measuring for asbestos particles, commission one if you want to continue with this purchase.

Exactly, at the notorious J.W.Roberts & co/later Turners factory at Armley in Lancashire you apparently could not see one end of the building to the other because of the fog of dust, and the extractors blew it over the town like snow - not belittling asbestos risks, but in such concentrations very many dusts, china clay dust for one, can be equally lethal.

I just pulled out of a purchase due to survey report came back saying the asbestos roof tiles need replacement asap. And the surveyor actually refused to go to the roof space due as based on the inspection from the outside, he believed the asbestos had been disturbed.

While in your case the surveyor said it’s okay for now; I would agree with some others here regarding mortgage condition and resale value.

Given that you already knew this is not going to be a forever home, personally I would pulled out to save you having to spend ££ at some point in the future.

Having watched the size of operation required to remove Asbestos from a row of four HA houses opposite me I wouldn’t touch your prospective purchase with a barge pole.

We have had weeks of scaffolding, men in Hazmat suits, plastic units to cover the offending areas, cleaning stations parked on the road for the men to clean themselves off, road sweepers every day. The houses have had to have their roofs removed and retiled and now all the carpets are being removed and taken away, with a carpet company visiting to measure up for replacements.

Goodness only knows how much this is all costing, never mind the worry for the residents. It appears they have been temporarily moved out and if I was them I am not sure I would be moving back.

Chrysotile non-friable fibres aren’t a reason to pull out of a sale.

Asbestos is absolutely everywhere. Most schools have it.

I would think a bit about whether this is ante-natal anxiety. There will be lots of risks your baby is exposed to. Going in a car is the main one. Much, much more risky than (uncertain, probably not) exposure to Chrysotile asbestos in a standard house.

No I agree with you, it seems a lot and imagine very time consuming and expensive to safely remove, but could you get a quote on that?

My current understanding is asbestos has to be properly dealt with.

Asbestos was only fully banned in the UK in 1999. So, if you've ever been in any building that's older than 25 years old, it's probably got asbestos in.

So, you either need to look for a newer property or come to some kind of arrangement with the current owner to get it removed.

It's safe unless disturbed but a lot of these asbestos structures are reaching an age where they're failing and do need to be disturbed.

If it makes you uneasy then pull out. Or get a estimate to remedy it and use that to negotiate down the price you pay.

Absolutely, I work in facilities management in a large secondary school - EVERY classroom has asbestos based ceiling tiles, the pipes are lagged in it, the window reveals, soffits and firebreaks are made from it, the floor tiles, toilet seats and cisterns contain it.

None of it is planned for removal, its encapsulated and un-distrubed.

OP, being pregnant is stressful. Moving house is stressful. I personally wouldn't want to add another worry. I don't think you're ever going to feel happy in that house. Some people are much more chilled, probably very sensibly about the risks from asbestos, but it's a risk you don't fancy. Some people wouldn't move to near a flood risk. Some people wouldn't move under a big phone mast. You're allowed to pull out. Have your baby in a house you feel safe in. Buy a new build!

Yes.And any major renovation work would be more difficult.

I do wonder whether this is the next RAAC. Lagged pipes is particularly concerning because that asbestos is the really bad type.

Not necessarily.

Luckily our pipes have a chrysotile based corrugated "paper" lagging. The white (in appearance) so called 80% magnesia insulation has blue in it - we only had that in the boiler house and it went with the old boilers 20 years ago, thankfully.

Don't move somewhere you're uncomfortable. I'd go for a newer (but not totally new) build.

Its last big use was Artex which contained it until the late 90's, when I was an apprentice electrician in '98 you could still buy asbestos sheet in the builders merchants quite freely, a product called Asbestolux was widely used for fascias and soffits back then.

By The law of probability there are some that will have none, but many (most?) will, and my larger point is that you can never really know for certain.

I wouldn’t move in somewhere with confirmed asbestos and I couldn’t knowingly put my baby into that environment

There's different types of asbestos and it's used in many different materials. The proper hazardous types are where the asbestos fibres are friable and can be released as (microscopic) particles. When the asbestos is bound by cement, it's not going anywhere (unless some plonker starts drilling into it or smashing it up with a hammer).

Chrysotile is cement is as low risk as it gets. Wouldn't put me off at all. Although it's fairly unusual to have asbestos sheet roofing on a domestic dwelling. At some point that'll have to be removed and replaced, and it'll be more costly to deal with than a non asbestos roof. So hopefully it's just a small part of the roof (extension or something) that's asbestos?

A huge proportion of houses built before the late 90's contain asbestos. It was an ingredient in artex type coatings, so any pre 2000 house with artex on the ceiling could well have asbestos in it.

Pull out. Hundreds spent to find this out is better than thousands to fix it or a loss of thousands to drop the price by when you come to sell it as so many people wouldn't buy it now- in 5 years time even less people would buy it.

Look at what this is doing to your anxiety now and you're not even in the house.
A new baby can bring its own anxiety without adding a house stress factor.
Also your anxiety now isn't good for baby.

See it as a lucky escape- someone is watching over you 🍀

I would say most houses in the UK have asbestos somewhere. It has been around since the late 19th century. Stopped in 1999 so look for places built in the last few years. Or go for a new build

It depends entirely on where it is, and what type - so for example, garage roof made of asbestos sheets - pretty standard in many old garages, don't disturb it unless you want a new garage roof. Same with old asbestos artex, don't try to remove it, have the ceiling replastered (skimmed over). However, asbestos loft insulation - its not "contained" really is it, its not sealed into the loft! It's like cotton wool with fibres that are easy disturbed. So that would need to be removed. I think you need more advice OP unless you want to pull out and that might be for the best. Sounds like a lot of hassle.

I personally as someone who has lost both parents to mesothelioma would be pulling out of the purchase!
in my opinion no asbestos is safe!