Abestos in ceiling??

[NobleGuy]

Last night I finally got round to removing an area of water damage from the celing that occurred a couple of months ago due to a small water leak. Hoovered up, showered, and went out for a pint.

My mate then lets me know that some textured ceilings have asbestos in them...brilliant.

I've read on the web that it's most likely white asbestos and this is less of a risk than the other types.
Does anyone have any expertise in this area? What is the likelihood of there being asbestos present and is there a way I can identify it? Bit late I know...

[NobleGuy]

55palfers said:

What sort of ceiling is it?

Maybe plasterboard with "Artex" type of textured coating.

If so, Artex does contain a small amount of Asbestos. However, as it was wet it is most probably OK as it's airborne fibres that cause the problem

http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/essentials/coatings...

Lots here.

Thanks.

It was dry when I scraped it off unfortunately

It's about a 1-2mm thick plastery Artex-looking texture with what looked like a fibreglass sheet underneath.
I noticed one of the bits had a glassy-looking seam in it but I haven't got a clue if that's significant or not.

The house was built in '88 so it's in the period where asbestos was recognised as being dangerous but wasn't phased out fully.

[NobleGuy]

Sorry I went all quiet for a bit... Just wanted to say thanks for all the responses.
I've got over the initial scare and found pretty much what has been echoed here - that white is the least risky, regular exposure means greater risk and that I've probably (hopefully...) not done myself or anyone else too much harm.

I'm repainting at the moment and the carpets were due to come out in a couple of weeks anyway so I did that immediately, and it didn't stop me religiously cleaning everything else with a mask on afterwards