Asbestos fear...

[rina_bean]

I'm sure this topic has been covered all over this forum! But I didn't really know where else to turn...

I have OCD & general health anxiety and I admit that. I've worried about everything under the sun.

I bought a house with my husband in August, which was originally rennovated in the 1970s, there was some asbestos in the artex ceilings which they picked up in a survey and they tested positive so we had them removed by a specialist company.

However that was about 4 months ago and since then me & my husband have done further extensive remodelling of the house ourselves. Including knocking down drywall walls, drilling through external walls, and all sorts of quite invasive dust causing work! None of the things we have drilled through or ripped out were tested for asbestos though.

I didn't really think about it at the time as I assumed we'd got rid of the only hazard within the artex. However we moved in about a month and half ago (with it still being quite a building site) and since then it has suddenly dawned on me that all the work we have done ourselves could have potentially disturbed other asbestos (if there is any!)

My husband is a builder and does alot of work in schools & hospitals etc where there is potentially a greater amount of asbestos, on a daily basis. He has also undergone an asbestos awareness course and also genuinely feels there is not a problem at all with any of the work we have done. He believes we did the right thing getting professionals in to remove the artex and thinks all the work we have done since then hasn't disturbed anything hazardous. He says he is probably more at risk at his job than from anything in our home. This also worries me...

But right now, I can't shake this feeling of what if... everything I look at in the house, I think it could potentially be asbestos. There is so much dust still from all the work we have been doing and it has been tread all through the house. I'm torn between being overwhelmed by it all but also thinking that there is a real reason for me being genuinely concerned.

So I have decided to book an asbestos fiber air test, and they are coming to test our house tomorrow for fibers in the air. My husband doesn't think we need it but hopes it will put my mind at rest. As I am so scared at the moment about it all.

I'm now also really worried about the air test itself and what it involves (as they say they've got to use a big pump and it will take half a day of testing!). What the results will be, and if they are positive for asbestos what I shall do & will it open a whole other can of worms... I'm also worried about whether the testing equipment will be clean enough & not contain asbestos already (from a previous job or something) and that by having the test I may actually be putting us at further risk of contamination...

I really don't know what to do or whether I am doing the right thing or have made the right decision! Or how to calm myself down about it all :-(

Apologises for the essay... and any advice would be greatly appreciated... Many thanks.

[CherryRed]

Hi Rina, I would of thought the men who did your artexing would of known or might have if there was any chance of asbestos being in your house a part from your ceiling, I've never heard of houses, only old building such as schools etc to have it, I thought it was banned well before the 70's and used mostly on outside sheds, and garages if it was used, I didn't know they used it in artex, The equipment they use has to be fully cleaned before it can be used again, as there are health risks for them that use it, I'm sure everything will be fine, but its hard when you get so wound up about something, and with ocd its even harder, and i know how you feel, try not to worry easier said than done i know :flowers:

[beauty2010]

Bless you
I have done the asbestos thing already. Now I am on melanoma ........:winks:
Anyhow asbestos danger is vastly overstated by the media in my opinion. If you want to talk to someone who knows about it I would recommend 'Asbestos Watchdog'. You can google it and there is a very nice man there who has written papers on the stuff and he will be able to put your mind at rest. I have spoken to him on the phone, and hopefully he is still about. It is very rare indeed for householders to be put at any risk at all by the stuff. He may also be able to give you some advice about interpreting the results of your test.
Good luck
Bxxxx

[rina_bean]

Thanks for your replies.

Well, I had the air test done today, it came back with 0.01 of fibres. He said that the fibres weren't always neccessarily asbestos fibres anyway and they could include carpet/other dust etc. He told me to really not worry about it - easier said than done.

He didn't come suited & booted in the whole scary kit with masks etc, so I guess he wasn't as overly concerned about it all as me - I'm not sure if that helped or not! He also walked all over my house which put me on edge quite a bit too, generally because he works in the asbestos field so how do I know he didn't have any on his clothes/shoes etc from a previous job...

I thought I would feel more relieved, but I still feel a bit uncomfortable about it all and am still worried about his equipment not being clean enough as he only seemed to wipe it down after with a few wet wipes. He said his equipment was clean and that normally others wouldn't really wipe it down after this sort of result as there was such a minute amount of fibres. I guess there wasn't really much more he could do to convince me.

He was reassuring and didn't say he thought I was being daft or irrational. He said that there isn't really much more I can do other than get every material in my house tested, which they could do if I really, really wanted but he really didn't think it was worth it. He said there are just some things in life not worth consuming all your time over...

I know what he is saying. I want to think rationally about it all, but still feel a bit on edge about it, but I guess there is still nothing more I can do about it? My husband doesn't want to hear anymore on the subject now and my friends and family think I should just be happy with the result and move on - they think the stress is much worse for me than all my health fears.

Any tips for trying to relax?

[Annie0904]

It sounds by the results that you have nothing at all to worry about. My husband worked with asbestos in the 1960's and he was exposed to it daily. he has a small amount of it in the area around his lung. Even if you had been exposed to some it would not have been for long enough to cause you any problems.

[rina_bean]

Ok, so a year has passed & I finally managed to calm down over the issues with my house... Although there has still been this mild underlying fear about it all.

Sorry for the essay but don't know where else to turn again...

I started a job back in November. At the beginning of January we were told they would be doing some building work in the offices upstairs (as they are empty), but as it's not got much to do with us we weren't told fully what they'd be doing. Our building is quite old, and my boss has occupied it for at least the last 20 years.

It turns out they are doing a lot of demolishing of partition walls, ripping out windows, chasing electric's into walls, ripping out a whole kitchen & bathroom & replacing them all etc. These works are to go on for about 3 months in total!

My boss is miffed that they hadn't spoken to him or given him much warning about this as we rent the offices downstairs & he has been a consistent tenant for 20 years, also the noise & disruption will effect us and we share a common way, so the builders keep trasping up & down through our floor.

I immediately panicked & mentioned to my boss that it would be good to find out if they had done an asbestos test, he told me that they had mentioned they were going to do one.

But after much agonising over it & not feeling entirely confident with my bosses response, I managed to pluck up the courage to ask the builders myself about the work they were doing & whether they had done an asbestos test and I also asked if we could get a copy of the results. The foreman told me a test had been done & that there was no asbestos but he was also happy to provide us with a copy of the results.

I have since seen the results & don't know if it's made me feel better or worse, as I found out that they tested 4 items in total:
- Adhesive & felt carpet underlay
- Vinyl flooring in the bathroom
- Bitumen sink pad
- Fuse cupboard rope

My boss has seen a copy of the results & seems satisfied with them, he believes they are a reputable building company & has told me to trust that they know what they are doing & that it is not really our place to get involved with the works upstairs.

The work has already started & been going on for a week now, they are demolishing partition walls attached to ceilings (I am unsure whether the ceilings are artex), they will also be chasing electrics into walls (which look like popcorn style walls) and also ripping out windows & replacing them.

There are a few provisions in place:
- The builders have put up a framed tarpulan dust shield in the commonway to protect our floor (but there are small gaps in it & their door in it is constantly open when they are working up there) - so a few bits of debris & dust lingers about the commonway we constantly walk through.
- There are 2 doors you have to enter to get into our office from the commonway, but we are regularly walking in & out of it, and people often leave them open, despite my constant reminder & paranoia about closing them!

Basically my general fear is that the items they are removing & have not tested potentially contain asbestos and that we are at risk of being exposed to it for a 3 month period! Noone else seems remotely concerned about this aspect other than me! Also the office cleaners clean at the weekends & use the hoover for the commonways & our offices, so I am also worried that dust etc has been passed from room to room!

I don't want to be a scare mongerer... but I can't stop thinking about it, and it's driving me crazy! I can't sleep, I feel sick everyday in the office, I constantly hold my breath when I walk through the commonways (as if that will actually help me in anyway!) and I am constantly looking for an excuse to be out of the office. I can't shake the feeling that we are in danger! :-(

I speak to my husband about it on a daily basis, he is a tradesman who undergoes regular asbestos awareness training. He tells me to stop worrying about it & that they sound like a very competent company if they have already done asbestos tests & that they obviously tested the items that they considered needed testing. My husband said that not everything always contains asbestos & that the builders will be in a closer range to the work than us anyway, and surely they would want to consider their health too. He again tells me in his job he will most likely have been exposed to much more asbestos than I ever will & that there is no point worrying about something I have little control over. Again he says I am more likely to die from worry & stress than I am to die of an asbestos related illness!

But that doesn't make it any better nor stop me worrying! I just can't shake the feeling that we are all potentially in danger of being exposed to it, and I don't feel like I'm being completely irrational! I just don't know what more I can do about the situation :-( it's making me so unhappy & I'm finding it difficult to concentrate at work too.

[Annie0904]

Do you really think the builders would put themselves through so much risk? No they would not! You can be assured that they will have done adequate testing for their own safety and that of others.

[miguelgarbutt]

Very helpful. Thanks for sharing.

[andysa]

I had a massive asbestos fear but that's because I actually was taken to an asbestos mine when I was a kid. Bottom line the stuff is nasty, however most people who have problem with it are exposed to blue asbestos over extended periods of time. You are exposed to asbestos most days as it is used in brake pads and disk on trucks plus occurs naturally in the environment. So as I mentioned most people who develop mesothelioma have had chronic exposure to asbestos over extended periods or had very high exposure in short bursts neither of which it would seem you would qualify for. There was a town in Australia famous as the largest industrial disaster in Australia history as it was an asbestos mine mining and processing blue asbestos and although more than 20,000 people lived and worked in the town only around 750 developed mesothelioma and all these people were exposed to daily exposure which was milllions of time the levels of safe exposure