House Plans

[Fergie87]

I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction to find the original plans for my house. I currently live in an ex council house that has a garage which contains asbestos and i want to find out if it was put in by the council.

Also if it was originally built by the council can i ask them to assist me in removing it safely or is it now deemed a private matter?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks
Fergie

[Sam_68]

Having worked in Local Authority, I would suggest that it is extremely unlikely that they will still have the original construction drawings.

Building Control are only obliged to keep copies of plans for (IIRC) 15 years, and they will usually dispose of anything older than that.

If it was originally a council house, you could try contacting your Council Housing Department, but I wouldn't hold out much hope.

If it is a system-built house (eg. an Airey house) you might have a bit more luck, as there's quite a bit of technical information available on them and grants used to be available for their repair, as they were 'officially' recognised as being rubbish in the Housing Defects Act, but I'm not sure if there is anything still available.

[Total loss]

Fergie87 said:

I
in removing it safely

You can do it yourself legally and take to a council tip that takes asbestos (not all do) for free.
Do some googling for safety info and local tip that takes it.

[GuinnessMK]

I found the original plans for my house at the local council archives.

Turns out the dodgy developer didn't build what he had permission for, mind you that was in 1898, so I think the time limit has passed now.

As for the asbestos, if you own the house, it's yours. I can't see the council paying or helping out to remove it.

[wolf1]

Fergie87 said:

I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction to find the original plans for my house. I currently live in an ex council house that has a garage which contains asbestos and i want to find out if it was put in by the council.

Also if it was originally built by the council can i ask them to assist me in removing it safely or is it now deemed a private matter?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks
Fergie

When you say it contains asbestos are you refering to roofing sheets or the cement board which contained small amounts of asbestos used decades ago as fireproofing on the ceiling instead of plasterboard?

[Fergie87]

Thanks for the replies.
The asbestos is contained in the cement board and roof sheets it is literally an asbestos garage. I am aware of how to take it down and correctly store it I didn't realise that a local tip would take it. Thanks for the info i'll just do it myself

[Steffan]

A word of caution.

Without wishing to be a wet blanket I do not think the removal and disposal of any form of Asbestos is a domestic matter. I would suggest at the very least obtaining professional advice before proceeding. Asbestos is very nasty stuff and the consequences of exposure are very serious. Sadly I have seen it first hand. Dreadful stuff.

Many years ago (30+) I reviewed all the system builds in Birmingham for the Housing Department including Airey, BISF, Orlit, Cornish, Woolaway, Smiths, Wimpey No Fines, Bison, Bryants etc and a whole host of others including Hawksley and Nissen.

There were a series of difficulties with these houses many of which remain to this day (Remarkably).

Most if not all contained Asbestos in various forms. Most if not all had serious structural issues that could not be remedied easily. Hence the concern of the Housing department.

I suggest you approach your local Housing and Building control department. There may be individuals about who have first hand knowledge of the construction of your house still about.

Good luck with your research.

[Total loss]

Steffan said:

A word of caution.

Without wishing to be a wet blanket I do not think the removal and disposal of any form of Asbestos is a domestic matter. I would suggest at the very least obtaining professional advice before proceeding. Asbestos is very nasty stuff and the consequences of exposure are very serious. Sadly I have seen it first hand. Dreadful stuff.

As I said above, ,you can legally remove your own domestic asbestos, google it, all the info and safety advice needed is their.

[trev540]

Had to ring council first to find which tip take asbestos sheets then double wrap it in plastic and tape open edges before they will take it.

[Fergie87]

Thanks for the advice everyone its appreciated. Im going to start a build thread when i take the garage down and build a double one with a workshop. Only got a few more months then I can begin I really can't wait now it will be great to have somewhere to work on my car.

[dave_s13]

Steffan said:

A word of caution.

Without wishing to be a wet blanket I do not think the removal and disposal of any form of Asbestos is a domestic matter. I

I'm fooked then cough, cough, cough

It's not free in Leeds by the way. In fact it's a right ball ache. Has to be double bagged in thick gauge visquine (sp?) and the lazy bstds at the tip won't lift a finger to help you get it in the skip. Cvvnts they are- saying that, I should have wrapped them up smaller, trying to lift 100kg of garage roof by yourself is hard bloody work.

Also you can only go in the working week, not on weekends (I had to take the afternoon off).

Depends where you live. If there's loads of it what about losing it in the foundations or buried in your garden?