To feel incredibly incredibly upset and stressed about this? What would you do?

[amiacame]

In August we found out that our house has asbestos sheets in the roof. We have lived here for only 8 months and it wasn’t picked up on the survey. We’ve been told that they are the sheets that were there when the house was built and so in the next few years the roof will need doing. There’s bit of the roof that are already in not great condition as it is. We need to move again next year and don’t have the money to fix this at the moment and whilst the inspection report said that these sheets were secure, they don’t look in perfect condition to me and I am now terrified my little girl who is 1 has been exposed to asbestos. I feel sick. I can’t sleep and just want to escape but we can’t until we sell. I feel like we’ve put her whole life at risk and I’m getting migraines from the stress. Does anyone have any experience of this sort of thing and how much risk we have posed to our daughter? I’ve attached a photo

Sorry photo attached

Our previous house had loads of asbestos sheets making the garage walls and roof not in a great condition. We did get it sprtrf but it is my understanding that for it to be a risk you need to drill in to it, breath on dust etc. Simply being near to it isn't dangerous. Certainly when we dismantled it they guys sprayed it with water and wore masks but they weren't hazmatted up or anything. I'd try not to worry and just avoid drilling or disturbing it

Just to add we had baby twins when we lived there they are 11 now no ill effects

People make a huge hoopla about the dangers of asbestos . It is only if you worked in an industry which used it or if you 'disturb' it on a daily basis over time and for many years.

So no need for you to worry.

Have you researched this thoroughly, or simply flown into a panic?

It’s my understanding that asbestos materials have to be moved/cracked/falling apart to be dangerous, as it’s the dust and particles that can be aspirated. Inert, it’s not dangerous but the recommendation is that it’s replaced for obvious reasons (like if it wore with age or fell apart it could become dangerous).

Our kids bedrooms and our bathroom ceiling are made of that dated swirly stuff that - according to the survey we had done when we bought the house - may contain asbestos. I have zero concern about this whatsoever, because I’ve had advice and looked into it.

Suggest you get properly informed, and address the anxiety separately - is this kind of worry level normal for you?

I understand your concern OP, but as others have said, it’s not a concern just living near it. Most of the hospitals I’ve worked in are asbestos (have a look at most of the older hospitals window sills and they have a sticker saying not to drill into them!)

Don't worry @amiacame it's constant contact with asbestos over some years that caused issues/cancers in people. (And it was largely down to them breathing the fibres in.)

It was not what you describe, and just over a few weeks/months. You/your family - and your DD will be fine.

@clareykb thank you so much for sharing your experience. I’ve been in tears about this most days since august it’s been awful. How long did you live in it before you got it removed? House was built in 60s so these sheets must be pretty old now.

@SabreIsMyFave thank you for replying. I’ve been so horrendously stressed about it. My main worry is that they were done in the 60s so must be pretty old now, won’t that mean they are flaking off a bit?

@Potatomashed thank you that is reassuring and I hadn’t thought of it like that. I suppose I feel particularly worried as we have been in the house loads with my daughter on maternity leave and obviously she sleeps in the house so she’s around it every day, though I guess it’s outside and not in the property. Thank you for replying and talking it through

@ItsVeryHyacinthBucket hi, I am generally quite anxious and had my daughter quite late in life (I was 43) and I think I’ve been quite over the top wanting to protect her as it took us ivf to have her. I don’t know if that’s playing into this a bit. The surveyor did say it would need to go at some point but not immediately and he said because of where the sheets are that they’re actually quite compact which is good. I just feel sick at the thought that we are basically surrounded by it but then again now you mention those swirls I remember my nan had loads of them in her living room and we spent hours in there

@Whataretalkingabout I had read that if one fibre broke off (and apparently you can’t actually seen them) and you inhaled it then that can be enough to do the worst

Asbestos is present in probably “every” building constructed before the 80’s. This includes schools, doctors surgery’s, etc etc.
Unless your child has been playing around in the rafters and stomping on cracked tiles, there is literally not a single thing to be concerned about.

@Normaja what if part of a sheet is weathered and it drops a fibre that’s inhaled? That’s the sort of thing I am panicking about as I have read it only takes one fibre

My dad tells me how he used to PLAY in abandoned asbestos when he was a kid! Would go home covered head-to-toe in the stuff. He’s almost 80 now.

I do sympathise, though. Anxiety is horrible and very real. One day you will forgot about all of this and all will be well x

Short of saying this is impossible, well, it’s basically impossible.
Who has given you the information about the asbestos in your house? If it was a Reputable surveyor then maybe get some information off them for reassurance. If it was a dodgy roofer looking to make some money, find a different roofer.
There is really really no need to worry yourself any more with this.

@misslooloo thank you for sharing and for being so kind x

@Normaja i read it just by general googling. The surveyor was really nice and said there was no panic and no need to take any action but just keep reviewing it as the roof will need doing at some point.

@amiacame really please don’t be stressed, there is nothing to worry about. They are literally thin strips of board layed on the outer edge of the gable brickwork to hold the cement in and waterproof the exposed edge of the roof tiles. Even if they deteriorate and flake over time, any fibres will evaporate into the ether.

Is there not brick and wall between the internal rooms and the sheets? Why do you plan to move again so soon?

Definitely stop googling. The surveyor would have told you if he had concerns. The fact he’s said just keep and eye on it confirms he is not worried. Your daughter would need to be in close contact with loose asbestos fibres to inhale one. Even if a sheet fell, your daughter is unlikely to be present at the moment it happens.
Your daughter is safe.

Try not to panic, I’ve worked around asbestos for years and what you’ve posted isn’t a worry. Construction materials don’t last forever, we even have to put plans in for what happens to new concrete motorway bridges at the end of their 120 year design life! Everything needs replacing eventually, your daughter is safe, and those sheets don’t have fibres that can fall off and be inhaled.

Can I add, about 15 years ago I lived in a flat and discovered it had asbestos tiles in a cupboard and I similarly freaked out. I went on to discover that not all asbestos is the same, and some kinds are less dangerous than others. I wish I could remember the details now, now but I did contact a specialist who reassured me. Like I sat, I moved on and haven’t thought about it since until now,

Seriously, don’t panic. There’s a ridiculous amount of scaremongering around asbestos, a lot of it fuelled by the removal companies, who make a very good living exploiting people’s fears.

if you Google asbestos removal in your area, you’ll be surprised at the number of these businesses there are - it’s because a huge percentage of the UK’s housing stock and public buildings (mainly 1940s-1980s) contain it, and certain types can only be removed under license - which is basically a license to print money. Most of us have quite safely lived, worked and gone to school in buildings full of asbestos.

The ‘one fibre’ thing refers to the fact you can become ill from inhaling one fibre - but in order for that to be even remotely possible, you’d need to be heavily exposed to airborne particles of broken or degraded material, which is vanishingly unlikely in most domestic situations. Unless your house is a snowstorm of asbestos, there’s no way a single spiralling microscopic fibre can find its way into you or anyone else in your family.

And it has to be fibres from a couple of very specific types of asbestos, in very specific unstable materials. Most is completely stable and the sheets can just be removed and wrapped in plastic by the householder and taken to the local tip, where there’s usually a special holding area for it.

My house was originally built in the 40s and we recently discovered an amount of asbestos sheeting in the loft, some of it broken. Like you, I was immediately anxious, worrying about the risk and the exposure my children may have had in the past. But then I rationalised that guys from all the four companies who came to quote were poking around up there without masks or anything else. They’re exposed to asbestos on a daily basis and didn’t seem remotely bothered.

The first three companies were soooo lovely and helpful, so very quick to arrive to quote for us - so many credentials, so many years of experience, such professional vans and uniforms. They all measured and form-filled and sucked their teeth, and finally reassured us they could do a licensed removal (safety protocols, sealed chambers etc) of this very dangerous material, that it would only take a week or so; that they’d need to close access to the top floor of the house; that they could ‘decontaminate’ our belongings and ensure everything was safely disposed of. Their quotes were between £8.5 and £10.5K + VAT, and DH and I had a week of stressful, sleepless nights wondering where the hell we were going to get the money from - because, you know, ASBESTOS 💀, and we had no choice, what else could we do?

The fourth guy walked in, took one look at it and said he was 99% certain the material was totally safe and had been wrongly classified, and told us that any asbestos contractor would have been able to see that at a glance. We had it retested and he was right. He took it away and and air tested the loft for a few hundred quid (he said we could have done it ourselves for nothing, but we gladly paid him as we were so grateful for his honesty). He also told us that even if it had been the really terrible, scary stuff, it would have taken about a day to remove and clean up, and he’d have done it under licensed conditions for a tiny fraction of the other quotes.

Don’t underestimate how much frightening information is put about by sharky chancers who are looking to profit from people’s fear and lack of understanding.

Please sleep easy and don’t worry about your little girl. There’s no way a surveyor would allow your family to live in an unsafe building.

Yes, yes, and then yes. All of this.