Does anyone have an experience having asbestos removed, or selling a property with possible asbestos? HELP!

[wilbur]

We are part way through buying a new house, built in the mid-fifties. We had been told there was asbestos in an outbuilding close to the house which was built in the 60s, but not told it was likely to be in the house itself. Survey has come back saying ceilings throughout house likely to be asbestos cement, plus there is likely asbestos in a couple of other areas too. So we need to get specialist testing done and then possibly removal (although only if we want to make changes to the house as it is safe as long as it is not disurbed).

Has anyone made changes to a house with asbestos and used professional removers? If so, what was the process like and do you have a vague idea of cost?

Has anyone tried to sell a house with asbestos in it? I am concerned about resale value as it was our idea to do up this house and then downsize in retirement giving us a pot of cash to live on.

I know that loads of houses all over the country have asbestos in them, so I'm just wondering how big an issue it is.

bump

well we bought our house even though the garage roof is asbestos...

Thanks smileitssunny - did you have someone test the asbestos before you bought it? Or asked for money off the price because of it? Just wondering how you would have felt if the asbestos was in the main living bit of the house.

Ask what kind of asbestos it is. Theres two kinds, according to our loss adjustor. The scary red asbestos is very bad and you might need to get it removed (I don't know a lot about that). The more common blue kind, which is in most houses built up to about 1984 and wasn't outlawed for years after that.

If its the blue kind then as long as you don't start poking holes in the ceiling you will never know its there. If you have to do something to the ceiling it will have to be removed in that room by specialists. We just had that done with a ceiling repair after a leak. It took about half a day to do our reasonable sized living room and can't have cost a huge amount as the whole claim is only a few grand and that included a new ceiling and repainting the entire room.

Its not that bad and would not put me off buying! It did not affect our resale value even though when we brought it it was 'possible' and when we sold it, it was 'definite'.

agree with akandra, we had the not so bad kind in a house we were selling, it was a pain in the arse as had to get specialists in and ended up knocking about £2k off the price in order to get the sale done, but it's not the end of the world

We had a huge asbestos garage removed from the garden. We hired a special skip and had some workers from a local reclaimation yard to knock it down. They broke it up and put in the the skip. They did it for free as they wanted the York Stone slabs that were underneath it (we had no need for them).

We just paid for the skip which was £250. It was also removed the following day as you can't have it hanging about.

Most local authorities have somewhere to tip it (usually for a fee). So you can remove it yourself with the right safety equipment (masks and overalls etc).

We ourselves took down a garage with asbestos sidings.
tbh, from what I've been told about how the professionals take such buildings down, we felt it was safer to do it ourselves.
Sorry, no experience inside a house.
Technically it's usually safe until you touch it (I think, get professional advice) so best strategy would be to leave well enough alone.

it's the safer kind. DH has been investigating Ways to .make it safer using sealant. Yes I would have reduced our offer if it was on main living area but I'm cheeky like that

no we didn't test it.

We have just bought a house which has/ had some asbestos in it. We had it in old vinyl under the carpets and we also have an asbestos cement downpipe or two on an outbuilding.

I am writing this not as an asbestos expert but as someone who did a fair amount of research when considering how to deal with ours.

First off, asbestos is so common, I would think that the majority of buildings built after the early 40s and before it was banned will contain it somewhere. Many householders (and that includes me and all my family!) are not aware of it. Common locations are in the loft, ceiling boards, soffits, garages, cement rainwater pipes etc, old floor coverings, backing behind fireplaces, in artex wall and ceiling coverings... It's usually fine if left undisturbed and if it's undamaged, and can be sealed safely if you know what you're doing and don't plan to disturb it in the future. Disturbing it includes drilling, sanding, cutting, scraping and of course demolishing etc.

Removing asbestos yourself is really not a good idea unless you are following HSE guidance. Licensed contractors (licensed by HSE, they have a list of ones local to you) will do the job safely (you would hope) and it mightn't be as expensive as you think. For testing and the safe removal of asbestos-containing flooring throughout our 3-bed semi and taking away two seriously heavy, ancient storage heaters which also contained asbestos, we paid around £700.I think perhaps that was going a bit but we needed it done at 24 hours notice because the carpets were due to be fitted the next day . OUr type of asbestos wasn't particularly dangerous but I wouldn't have done it myself -you would have to buy special masks (not just dust masks), suits, and tape off your working area, as well as hoover up with a special HEPA-filter hoover afterwards if you're going to do it properly.

Asbestos cement I think is considered lower risk. OP you say the ceiling boards are made of this but they could also be asbestos insulation board which looks similar but is really not nice stuff and needs careful handling. The only way to be sure is to test it properly with a lab that specialises in that sort of thing.

Just to clarify, there are several (not just two) types of asbestos. Blue asbestos (crocidolite) is considered the most, not least, dangerous. Brown is also considered significantly risky, white a bit less risky I think. Danger level depends not only on what type of asbestos it is but also on what condition it's in and how 'friable' it is - e.g., how well-bonded it is and how many fibres are likely to be released when it's disturbed.

I would ask a licensed contractor around to the property in question and get them to give you advice on the best thing to do with your asbestos - it could be it just needs sealing which will be minimal cost.

Thanks so much for your posts, narmada et al -it's good to know that it's not the end of the world! To be fair, there was probably asbestos in some of the house I grew up in (Edwardian, but with some "funky" 60s additions) I know we have some of the nasty stuff (insulation round a heat pump in a shed/storage hut) but that is fine, we would get the men in white suits to take it out completely, I was just concerned that it would be a nightmare getting anything done to the house. It seems from other research that I've done that testing is the way to go and then we can see if we can negotiate on the price. The house is in a state, so whoever bought it would need to do work, so it's not like they're going to be able to sell it to someone who just wants to move in and leave it how it is.