Asbestos - huge overthinker here needing advice

[Needtorelax1]

Hi everyone,

ok so please don’t be thinking I’m an idiot! I just need a bit of advice because I’m a huge overthinker and tend to fall down a rabbit hole 🤣

basically I am on the verge of putting an offer in on a beautiful bungalow for me and my daughter. It’s perfect but needs a bit of work doing to it. The walls in the hallway and the dorma bedroom are coated in artex! There is no combi boiler but a water tank in the loft and Emersion heater thing in the bathroom cupboard!

Basically as I lay in bed last night I suddenly thought about asbestos l. The property was built in the 50’s I believe so there could well be some present I’m thinking…but after googling I’ve reached the conclusion that the whole house is made of it 🤣🤦‍♀️!

I just wondered if anyone knows of whether having a test would be suggested on a survey if they thought it might be present…and also how worried I should be or should I just forget about it as if it’s not disturbed it’s all ok?
I ended up thinking the walls, water tank, Emersion heater, even the tiling grout would be smothered in it and I’m putting myself off of a place that I really love and could be our forever home!

I lived in an asbestos house in Australia decades ago, and am still here to tell the tale 🌞

As long as it's still intact/painted, it poses no threat. The snag would be removal (because of the dust particles when it breaks up), or other invasive things like drilling into the wall.

Get a test done as part of the survey and ask for advice on how to deal with it, if present. The easiest way might be just to encapsulate it, e.g. skimming it over with plaster or fitting plasterboard over the top.

1950s bungalows are great, I wouldn't let this put you off.

Just have it tested.

We just had our artex ceilings removed, but we want to do some other renovations including knocking down walls, so it had to be dealt with. But otherwise you can always cover it.

Artex ceiling coatings containing asbestos tend to be ‘chrysotile’ and the risk is low if it’s left undisturbed. I’d be inclined to encapsulate it (plaster skim) rather than remove it.

Whilst it's relatively harmless if left undisturbed, i.e. you don;t need to drill nor cut it for your own plans, you have to bear in mind it may cause difficulties and lower valuations in the future when you come to sell it and potential buyers want to knock through walls or extend or change the plumbing/heating/electrical systems, so you may have problems re-selling or have to accept relatively lower offers than otherwise you'd expect. You may also have to do unexpected work yourself, i.e. if the roof leaks you may have to remove the Artex to repair internal damaged ceilings.

Honestly, this is nothing! Every house I’ve lived in has had some form of asbestos. My current place had it in every room. I ended up getting the living room and main bedroom skimmed over to give them a more modern look, but I left the others (the spare room, kitchen, bathroom, and hallway still have it). It hasn’t been a problem, and as far as I know, it won’t be unless it gets disturbed.

By the way - I bought my 80s bungalow last year, and it’s the best property I’ve ever lived in. Bungalows are fab. Please don’t let this scare you off 😃

Thankyou so much everyone…I mean I don’t even know if there will be any at this point 🤣🤷‍♀️

A RICS surveyor will just see artex and flag that It 'could' have asbestos.

You can buy DIY kits where you take a sample yourself and send it off, we've just done it and it was about £100 for 5 samples.

Also my understanding is that the risk from artex is tiny tiny. Like it's a mixed up substance containing 5% chrysolite asbestos, and once the asbestos fibre are encased in the artex mixture theyre too heavy to float around microscopically in the air and be breathed in anyway.

Removing that type of asbestos is even something you can do yourself if you double bag and dispose at the correct facility.

Long story short, don't let it put you off your dream house. The horror stories are from the poor souls working with the pure stuff day in day out. (Yes I've been down a few Reddit rabbit holes on the subject for the exact same reason as you!)

I think I really need to not talk myself out of this one!

Asbestos is only an issue if you start hacking at it.
Leave it alone and there’s nothing to worry about
If you don’t like the look of artex get it skimmed over