View Full Version : Asbestos anxiety
I've just stumbled across this amazing site after another day of stressing out about possible asbestos in our new house - built in 1960s - I want to get an asbestos survey but my husband refuses and tonight told me he can't take anymore as in one week I've smelt gas and wanted to get a new oven, thought I was dying of cancer which just turned out to be an infection and now I've gone asbestos crazy. We have artex on our ceilings and my husband wants to move lights about in the ceiling and possibly even extend in the future. He's an electrician and says he has been trained to identify asbestos but I know you can't tell by just looking at it because I've researched it over and over. This morning I spotted some cracks around the edge of the ceiling too so I'm extremely anxious about fibres being released from there!? I don't know if anyone can help to ease my anxieties regarding this or if I'm right to be concerned. I feel over the years I've lost sight of what's rational and what's not so I don't really know anymore
My husband worked with asbestos a lot on a building site in the 60's and 70's. He said it would be very unlikely to find it in a house built in the 60's as it was mainly used in industrial sites and not homes. I very much doubt you would have any in your house. It is also only dangerous if disturbed. If your husband was doing any work he would see if it was there.
Hi Hetty :)
Now asbestos is something I do know about, as I come across it very day. Tradesmen like your hubby are well informed of the risks, not like the old days. You would be surprised how many ACM"s (Asbestos Containing Materials) there are. Artex is an ACM, BUT is considered low risk, so you don't need a licence to work on it.
You can simply paint over it to contain it, the UK government has a policy of non-removal, but management, so in many public buildings ACM's are boxed in or covered.
You really are at minimal risk, I would even worry. Think about us poor guys in the 80's that used to drill through it, cut it, fix to it, and I'm still here (touchwood ;)).
Remember, anxiety makes you focus on the worst case scenario, which very rarely happens :)
My husband is still here too and he like Jaco45er worked with it every day :)
I work in a lot of schools, we put in computer networks, fibre optics, Wifi so we get right into the fabric of the buildings. Asbestos is the Bain or my life !!!! We have to jump throu hoops with asbestos logs. Although I wouldn't take the risks lightly, I do feel there is a lot of companies out there that charge a fortune to test/remove, knowing peoples fears.
But honestly, Artex is at the bottom of the scale when it comes to panic stations over asbestos. If you're not having it removed, thick coat of paint will enclose it fine :)
Thank you so much for replying and for your kind reassurance. I've been looking online today and its completely confused me. So many of the pages I visited said that low risk was still a risk. If we weren't doing work in the house I would be calmer knowing that its not being disturbed but surely if my husband is moving light fittings its going to disturb the artex. Again all these sites I visited today stressed that its in artex :-( but I don't know a house that hasn't had artex and I e always just got it plastered over and thought nothing of it. I discovered by looking at an old survey in the house that the previous owner had done that there is an asbestos chimney flue as well but after speaking at length to am asbestos company I have almost managed to draw a line under that. i would never have bought the house if I had known but it just didn't cross my mind until the other day. My main concern is for my daughter rather than me. I feel semi satisfied that she hasn't been put at risk yet but if my husband insists on going ahead with his plans without getting a survey done then it will be too late but this constant anxiety is putting so much pressure on my marriage. I feel like I've moved into a death trap.
I didn't actually know that it was in artex until I read this :) We had artex on every ceiling in our house and had it all removed last year. The plasterer just scraped it off and skimmed over it. Even knowing it may have contained asbestos I am not worried as artex is very low risk. My hubby always says to me "If I'm not worried you shouldn't be either" and I believe him :D The plasterer didn't seem worried either.
I've lived in two houses where that has been the case and thought nothing of it! It's only because I've been online and freaked myself out and because now i have a little one to think of. We've already had two of the ceilings skimmed over and there was no need to even scrape it because its only slightly raised bumps so any normal person would be satisfied and think nothing more of it! But not me, I'm stressed about moving a light fitting and that there appears to be cracks around the edge!?
I removed the Artex on my last house Hetty. Wasn't even concerned.
I also removed a high capacity asbestos ceiling in the internal garage that was being converted to a room. I sealed the doors, purchased the proper BS certified overalls, gloves, googles and respirator. I dampened the whole room down to bring any loose fibres to the floor, laid plastic sheets all over the floor and walls. Removed the asbestos sheets carefully. Double bagged all sheets of ACM ceiling, double bagged my clothes, took to a registered disposal site, had to sign my name and address.
Now that was some serious asbestos, even had me spooked.
When I removed the Artex? Just stuck on a mask and had the window open !!!!
That is good point so you honestly think it will be fine to cut a hole in the plaster that's been put over the artex and the artex itself to fit a light? I am so worried about my 1 year old breathing in a fibre :-( I've scared myself online today
I wouldn't even think twice about it, you will be in know danger from it. You could always take your little one out for the day while hubby does the work if you are so concerned but it will be perfectly safe.
But it stays in the air and on stuff. I've read about it having to be cleaned especially with a special Hoover :-(
Most of the people who suffered with Asbestos health problems were working with it every day. It was often used for lagging pipes and boilers, and plumbers would just rip it off with no masks. Even with that many of them did this for years with no problems.
Asbestos in Artex is very low risk, and can be safely worked with, holes drilled etc... You would cause more of a problem removing it rather than just skimming over.
Pretty much every house built before the 70's will have asbestos in it somewhere as it was widely used. You really don't have anything to worry about, but if you want to waste tens of thousands removing it ( you will also need to move out of the house for a while while it is done ) then that is up to you, but then you will only find something else to worry about so it is a never ending cycle
Hetty :) that's the dangerous stuff, as Mikey says it's very low risk.
The real dodgy stuff was blue asbestos, and the asbestos industry used for insulation, where even disturbing it caused millions of particles to be released in the air.
Let me put it this way. Some dogs are really dangerous, and I'm no fan of dogs (cat person ;)), but I have no issue with my mate bringing his Labrador into the house.
Artex is the Labrador ;)
I can't believe I used an analogy like that, and I can't even blame wine at 9 am !!!!
Thanks, I like the dog analogy :) the problem is any risk around my daughter is huge to me. There is no way we could afford to remove it. It's going to be plastered over in the next couple of months but my concern is my husband then cutting a hole in the ceiling to put a light fitting in. Why does it say online that this stuff is so dangerous if it isn't?
---------- Post added at 09:39 ---------- Previous post was at 09:37 ----------
And on the news recently there was a teacher who died from just putting pins in her wall so it isn't limited to people who worked with the dangerous stuff for years :-(
I can see you are going to be hard to convince Hetty ;), but I totally get the worry over your child.
Now this might be a shock, but the internet is full of lots of things, and you can't take it all as gospel, I read once that a pill cures anxiety ;)
Ok, to put your mind at ease, you could ask hubby to purchase a small tin of this:
http://www.ecosolutions.co.uk/x_tex.html?gclid=CMLPhp6437wCFSgewwodOEoACA
He can use that safely to remove the area he is working on, then it can be plastered over with the rest of the ceiling. If you can live with the unsightly patch on the ceiling before the plastering :)
Jaco54er, I am sending you a thousand thank yous!!! That's stuff looks amazing and I immediately feel better about my husband working on it :) you're right that I'm hard to convince and i thank you so much for taking the time. I am so glad to have found this forum so I don't have to stress out people around me that just don't understand what it's like to live in constant fear :scared15: can I just check, do you think the cracks around the edge of the ceiling are safe? I only noticed them yesterday since my asbestos madness kicked in! They must be old cracks so the dust is all gone right?
Ahhh now that story about the teacher isn't quite proven. Totally unrelated to your predicament, but there is a big campaign by a chap who's wife sadly died of asbestosis disease, and he is convinced that it was because of asbestos in her workplace (school).
The problem with the disease is, it can take anything up to 40years of incubation before becoming apparent, so it's not easily proven where the sufferer got contaminated.
There is asbestos all around us, in the air, it's a naturally occurring material, but the risk is with working with it over a long period of time.
I quote:
Asbestos exposure becomes a health concern when high concentrations of asbestos fibers are inhaled over a long time period. People who become ill from inhaling asbestos are often those who are exposed on a day-to-day basis in a job where they worked directly with the material. As a person's exposure to fibers increases, because of being exposed to higher concentrations of fibers and/or by being exposed for a longer time, then that person's risk of disease also increases. Disease is very unlikely to result from a single, high-level exposure, or from a short period of exposure to lower levels.
Trust me, if you got it by a brief encounter of asbestos, we'd know more people ill with it than people we know who watch Eastenders !!
Oh good convinced? Nice one, cause my wife is moaning at me to get off the iPad and get some DIY done ;) glad I could help :)
Make sure that there is no asbestos involved in your DIY today! ... Can't believe I've made a little joke about it!! :yahoo: I guess I can go back to worrying about something else now! :wacko:
willbuff02
23-03-15, 14:57
Hello i know this post is from over a year ago but i was just wondering how things turned out? I am in a panic myself as we recently sold our house and have bought another which according to the survey may contain asbestos in the ceiling textured paint. It has actually frightened me quite a lot as it was something we hadnt even considered when we bought the house we are living in now 10 years ago. We modernised the house throughout and about 5 years ago were unlucky enough to have the bathroom ceiling come through during heavy rainfall and had to have it totally reboarded and replastered. Nobody metioned anything about asbestos to us, we were oblivious to it. Then two years ago a similar thing happened from the bathroom to the kitchen and the kitchen ceiling came through. We patched that up as best we could, again oblivious to the potential harm. I am so worried about the exposure of the fibres and that its still around the house, we have two children under 10 and i'm so worried for them. This whole thing has really bought me down and to know that the house we are buying may well contain it (its slightly older too) has me in constant worry and instead of getting excited about moving i'm in a worried daze. We have not had our ceiling tested at the present house but wondering if its worth getting done at the next one or are we already doomed (groan!) Sorry to open up an old discussion i just needed to vent my concerns to someone as the internet is so full of doom and gloom about the subject.
Do you still worry about the asbestos exposure? Am going through a similar thing myself x
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