Asbestos and (seperate) DIY advice

[Tootsiroll]

After years of renting I'm getting quite excited about the prospect of owning my own home. At last, no more magnolia walls and neutral colours!!!

I should probably start with the fact we're getting this house at a really good price, the owner has inherited the property in a will with no knowledge of it's history, they live in another country and want a quick sale. The agent has advised them to sell at a cheap price on the stipulation that it's sold as is. You pay your money you take your chances.

After our level three survey came in I breathed a sigh of relief, for a house that's over 100 years old it is in good condition with the bones of the structure being sound. Roof is fine, walls are fine, windows, doors etc all good. The only worry was the comments about the bumpy nature of the ceilings in the original part of the house. They are probably a mix of lath and plaster with any areas of repair being newer boards. It recomended the bumps may indicate the plaster was failing and after an asbestos survey a contractor should be called in for quotes. I freaked out at the word asbestos!!!

My level headed partner reminded me we actually planned to get an asbestos survey done anyway for peace of mind and that asbestos itself wasn't uncommon in older homes (hence the survey) and that it was fine as long as it was left alone.

I made some queries (£300 for a full house survey) and the surveyor said asbestos in residential ceilings was quite rare and if asbestos were present then we didn't have to worry about the whole house being wrapped in plastic and men in PPE gingerly moving pieces of plaster about. He recomended we could get the ceilings sealed behind modern plasterboard and leave things alone. We'd just have to be careful with any future works done that might disturb things and we'd have to inform any trades people going forward.

My partner seems totally fine with this. Am I worrying over nothing?

Secondly. As we have no DIY experience we've been looking at what needs to be done and qetting quotes from various people. By a fair margin the most expensive part for most things is the trades people we'd need to hire. My partner planted the seed that we should give it a go ourselves, "it's our house so we can do what ever we want" were his words. He suggested we limit ourselves to the spare bedroom and use it to test our skills. We'd like to try removing the layers of paint on the skirting boards, picture rails and doors back to the wood and either staining them or repainting them. Then preparing the floor before laying laminate flooring and finally filling any holes and skimming the walls smooth and painting. If we can't do it or it goes wrong then we get someone in to do it for us and we've lost a bit of money and time. Has anyone had experience learning on the job? We both work and I don't want to be doing things for months when we could pay someone to do it in three days.

Lots of older houses have asbestos in the ceilings eg artex. It was also used for lagging pipes so I’d get a survey and get it removed. Whoever told you it’s unusual is wrong

If you’re sanding old paint which you will be it will have lead in so get yourself PPE and vent the house when working

Dont seal and plug holes with spray and glue based stuff ever. They stop buildings breathing and you’ll potentially cause damp issues and damage the building long term

No idea why you’re spending money on laminate flooring when you’ll probably have original Victorian floorboards but that of course is at waste thing.

Use breathable paint always or you’ll have problems
Yes
Ive done loads of properties physically myself along with my job as an architect

You can easily do it just go to the library or get books on old buildings. SPAB website might also be good and
never believe what one builder you’ve never met before tells you

apologues to builders out there but it’s always important to check everything you are told for yourself. One only has to read mumsnet disasters from rogue builders on here to see why

I wouldn't sand woodwork - too much dust, I would use a hot air gun and scrapper but be careful around windows as you can crack the glass. Don't bother with paint strippers that can be bought 'over the counter' as they are useless these days.

No
the old paint will have lead in it
a light sand with PPE is recommended

Watch out for old boilers and water tanks if they’re lagged that could be asbestos lagging too

OK, but a light sand won't get the it back to wood that they want.

They noted they wanted to go back to the wood and stain or repaint

If they go for repaint the best option is a light sand to key in the paint.

If they want to stain the wood then burning off the paint without being experienced could easily course burn marks which will show through the stain.
The better option for removal to stain is a putty mix in layers sealing in the mix over several hours with cling film. Such as ‘Peelaway’ or similar

Honestly, I have just been in a situation where I’ve had to replace half the skirting boards in a room (they didn’t exist) and sand the rest back before painting. Biggest regret of my year is not just ripping the old ones off and replacing them all. They aren’t that expensive and the old ones just don’t look anywhere near as good (despite the dozens and dozens of hours of effort)

Thanks everyone. The asbestos guy I spoke to was commenting on my spercific situation, Lath and plaster ceilings on their own don't typically contain asbestos in and of themsleves, however textured ceilings and artex are another matter. In my case, the ceilings are smooth but have been papered over and painted. He's tested many houses in the area and only found asbestos a handful of times and they were popcorn and artex ceilings or on flu pipes outside the property.

The wood thing is a bit different. There's several layers of paint on the skirting boards, banisters, railings and picture rails. It's so thick it's hiding details and looks like it's made of ice cream that's starting to melt. We thought about lead paint and saw that a heat gun could release some of the lead as a vapour into the air. Chemical removal seemed the best choice but also time consuming and quite messy.

I would agree that replacing skirt is probably quicker and easier than stripping the current stuff will be. But the new wood will never be as high quality at old victorian pine. I would go the klingstrip route personally.
We learnt on the job. On our 3rd house now so beware it can get quite addictive.
My advice would be to invest in some good tools as it makes jobs a lot easier.
This is a really good cordless drill and driver set. We use ours all the time and especially the impact driver is really useful. https://www.screwfix.com/p/makita-clx228aj-12v-2-x-2-0ah-li-ion-cxt-cordless-combi-drill-impact-driver-twin-pack/652HP?tc=NT8

Asbestos is only usually a worry in ceilings if there is artex. No artex then probably not very likely. Boarding over and leaving in place is also fine. We have asbestos boards on the back of most of our internal doors but they are painted and not cracked so I am ignoring them.

I would concur it’s a shame to remove original features like skirtings. A property never looks as beautiful