Artex ceiling and Asbestos (Homebuyers)

[thebraketester]

I had some artex tested a few years back, cost about 40 quid.... it came back negative which as a huge relief as we were also quoted £1400 to remove the ceiling 5*3m

[redandwhite]

Thanks all, mind put at rest now. Will get it tested once we are in and take it from there.

[Morningside]

• bump*

I knows it's an old thread but how did you get on?

Reason being is ours is showing the same (early 1980's property) and said it contained asbestos although not actually tested.

Edited by Morningside on Tuesday 25th October 19:26

[Pent]

i have similar.

nothing a £60 test kit cant solve. i wouldnt not buy a house because of it

[WyrleyD]

We had a plasterer scrape all the artex off (of all our 1970's ceilings) with a kind of blunt blade on a pole and then re-plastered, took him about a week in all.

[bennno]

WyrleyD said:

We had a plasterer scrape all the artex off (of all our 1970's ceilings) with a kind of blunt blade on a pole and then re-plastered, took him about a week in all.

Which is exactly what you are advised not to do with artex containing asbestos.

[dhutch]

bennno said:

Which is exactly what you are advised not to do with artex containing asbestos.

Absolutely. Much better to skim over the top without removing.

[minipower]

Morningside said:

*bump*

I knows it's an old thread but how did you get on?

Reason being is ours is showing the same (early 1980's property) and said it contained asbestos although not actually tested.

Edited by Morningside on Tuesday 25th October 19:26

It’ll be a standard warning. Lawyers do the same for anything pre 1999 built.

I’ve no doubt got asbestos in the 1970s extension to my house. It is in good condition so I’ll just leave as is until I either have it smoothed or notice damage. In both cases I’ll ask the contractor what process they use.

If you are unsure you can always have it tested. Having found some suspect material in my garden I emailed an outfit called Survey Safe in Colchester. Very helpful and advised to double bag and post it to them. They may suggest a survey if it means disturbing what is otherwise material in good repair.

[Bikesalot]

Depends what you want to do really.

Happy with the house as it, don't plan on drilling the ceiling, adding or changing lighting positions then I'd be minded to leave it.

We over-boarded the ceilings in our 60's build after an asbestos survey (none found) as it was part of a refurb anyway.

[rfisher]

Someone posted this in a similar thread recently.

£30 sees your issue gone.

Sellers should do this before listing really.

[redandwhite]

Morningside said:

*bump*

I knows it's an old thread but how did you get on?

Reason being is ours is showing the same (early 1980's property) and said it contained asbestos although not actually tested.

Edited by Morningside on Tuesday 25th October 19:26

Bought the house and haven’t done anything with it

[grudas]

dhutch said:

Absolutely. Much better to skim over the top without removing.

What happens if you end up needing to drill into it? As example we’ve got artex in our house and need to install new light fittings which will mean drilling a handful of holes. Surely that is no different to sanding. Presuming there’s a safe way to do it. Aka n95 mask and vacuum it up after?!

[TheInternet]

You can look up HSE approved methods on their website. Non licensed stuff such as drilling is pretty low risk IMO. My impression is that many would be doing it without any precaution at all due to a lack of awareness.

https://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/essentials/index.h...

[Morningside]

Thanks all. I suppose hearing "Asbestos" sounds too many alarm bells in your head but I think this has put our minds to rest.

[Ynox]

grudas said:

What happens if you end up needing to drill into it? As example we’ve got artex in our house and need to install new light fittings which will mean drilling a handful of holes. Surely that is no different to sanding. Presuming there’s a safe way to do it. Aka n95 mask and vacuum it up after?!

FFP3 is what you want for Asbestos. N95 is FFP2 from memory.

The pros would do this through shadow vacuuming using a H vac. As a DIYer the safest way is either use shaving foam or wallpaper paste and drill through this before wiping away as asbestos waste.

Technically I'd not recommend vacuuming it - a vacuum that's not a H vac could end up spreading the fibres around and you'd contaminate your vacuum. But equally it's a bit of artex and not as if you're drilling into AIB or stripping lagging. Small amount of chrysotile asbestos.

Asbestos is pretty much everywhere - even things such as toilet seats or black plastic toilet cisterns have contained it in the past. Bitumen pads under sinks too (I worked for a company doing asbestos surveys years ago, although I wrote their surveying software). Pretty low risk if it's left alone in good condition on the whole.

[Timothy Bucktu]

Our road was previously all council houses...but almost all privately owned now. There's some bungalows down the road that are mostly council still. Every time one of the old timers dies, the council come in and rip out all the ceilings before giving the gaff to the new tenant.

[sparkythecat]

My uncle was a plumber working for the council nearly all his working life. A few weeks before he retired he was grumbling about the job. They’d made him put a hazmat suit on, goggles and a mask to remove asbestos downspouts and guttering from houses that were being modernised. “Didn’t have to wear all that stuff when I put them up forty years ago”

He died last year aged 89. Fortunately despite his exposure to asbestos and many years of working with lead he never ailed much at all.