I’m looking at buying a 4 bed house built as far as I know in the early 70’s.
The full building survey I’ve had done recommends an additional asbestos inspection with regards some boarding around an older boiler flue, some boarding in the attic and as precaution on the ceiling artex.

I’m short of time and can’t find a specialist inspector so far, Im considering going ahead with the purchase and risking it – does anyone have any experience in regards this and in particular what the costs of an inspection and any possible remedial work might be? ❓

Asbestos removal cost A LOT. Classed as hazardous waste, so any company that can remove it will have to be licensed and dispose of it at a hazardous waste landfill in the UK (only 7 or so in the country).

Because of the dangerous nature, licensing required, and low amount of available landfills, it can get very, very costly.

I worked in asbestos removal. Make sure you’re sitting down when you receive the quote.

You should be able to find a consultant to do a Type 2 survey for you on the high risk areas, shouldn’t be too pricey either. It only gets expensive to remove when there is a lot, in awkward places and requires a large amount of work to enclose it etc prior to removal. If you have a look on the UKAS website there will be a list of consultants/ analysts and ARCA will give you a list of approved contractors too. If you want a good source of information look on the HSE asbestos essentials pages, very good and will put into context what the initial survey has found. Bear in mind that a house-buying survey will not test it and it is down to the surveyor’s experience as to whether they identify possible asbestos containing materials. So it will need sampling for confirmation, Type 2 survey does this.

The bit about hazardous waste landfills is slightly incorrect, there are a large number of sites that take asbestos, as it is stable non-reactive waste and not hazardous in the dangerous chemical way – of which there are around 7 nationwide. Your local authority can advise on disposal too. You don’t NEED a contractor for all types of asbestos removal e.g. pre-fab garage you could do yourself with right PPE and a skip from a licensed waste contractor.

I’d be surprised if the boarding around the flue were asbestos insulating board, can’t recall seeing it in that situation when I was a consultant but you never know. Loft possibly again. Artex again possibly, but at concentrations <1% it is very low risk unless you want it removing. It is fine to leave in situ so long as it is not damaged and it sealed. Again, a consultant can advise you.

HTH

A survey should cost you around £250-400, in my experience as an architectural technician. Removal, depending on the findings of the survey, could cost a few thousand pounds. I’ll have a look at work tomorrow and see what the last quote I received was.

There are council tips which will take if for free (only certain ones- phone up first). Basingstoke used to. If you take care and DIY it that’s the cheap way. I took an asbestos shed to the dump in my car. Handle it carefully, plastic and sticky tape. I guess a little water spray probably good if there are fresh breaks.

My experiance suggests you’ll be looking a thousands, i would hire a skip rip it out youself and then dump otherstuff on top of it to hide it. Thats what most people do anyway…

😯

Amazing – the power of ST, thanks for all your responses – I’m not proceeding with the purchase unless it comes up very low risk and is then properly sorted.
SM thanks for your consideration of my wallet, I guess you are joking but clearly out of the question, its nasty stuff that kills – no way would I want that on my concience!

My dad died of mesothelioma which is lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. I used to joke about ripping asbestos sheeting off etc and then i saw what happened to him. Don’t take the risk.

As long as it is in good condition and not breaking up, it doesn’t need removing. Artex, just make sure its painted, the boiler flue, again are you planning on changing the boiler or again is it in poor condition?

Perfectly safe until it starts breaking up, or someone decides to drill into it or remove it.

Had some friends who had a water leak, insurance paid out for redecoration which was lucky as turned out a bathroom wall was asbestos. Cost a thousand or so just to remove 2sq metres of partition wall!

regarding Artex, how expensive is that to remove, or is it best just to plaster over it and forget about it?

ATAC http://www.atac.org.uk/
probably the best boys to talk to.

Bear in mind that a survey, unless it’s a full destructive type 3 survey the consultant will only look at the the things they can get to not all the bits that are hidden behind other wall coverings, behind wallpaper etc, which tends to be the stuff you can disturb at a later date by mounting shelves on walls etc..

Artex can be removed with certain wet strip chemicals which minimise any potential fibre release.

Don’t do what a mate did which was to get a power sander to make it all flat 🙄

Be aware that a lot of asbestos stripping companies are a wee bit “iffy” and will completely take the piss with pricing. Even if you get 3 quotes its a well known practice that the companies will talk to each other to fix a minimum price to you.

Listen to what spud has said, have just let my wife read this thread, she knows about this subject.

My email is in profile if you need some more info.

Matt.

I’m a fully qualified asbestos surveyor (p402, s301) and consultant and have been since 2003. What Spud up there says is good advice.

I see horror stories all the time of poor, overcharged and unnecessary removal, even today with the new legislation. People with a ‘bit’ of knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

BUT I also occasionally see people living with asbestos in horrendous condition exposing both themselves and their families to fibres on a daily basis

If you are planning on any kind of refurb in the property, get an intrusive (now known as a Refurbishment Survey rather than a ‘type 3’) survey done by a UKAS accredited company. This way you will get to know exactly what you are dealing with and whether you need any remedial work at all. A good surveyor will advise you on the best course of action – but take care, many removal companies have their own surveyors who will tell you the worst. If you require a survey before purchase, it is unlikely a Refurb Survey will be suitable as these can be very destructive and tend to involve damage of decor etc. A ‘Management’ level survey (formerly known as a Type 2) will at least give further information on the boarding. It is not unlikely asbestos insulation board (AIB) is associated with the flue and used as fire breaks in a property of that age. Good information on AIB can be found here:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/essentials/aib.htm

You don’t necessarily need to have the asbestos removed unless it is in bad condition. Small damage may be repaired by yourself and the legislation doesn’t cover domestic settings in the same way as in a commercial setting at the present time (this may be subject to change in the future and may be considered if this is an ‘investment property’).

If you want any information, I’m happy to help. Obviously I can provide a quote for a survey, if required – depending on the size of the property (4 bed can mean a lot!) and the location – I’d say £275-£400 for a UKAS accredited survey is a about right.

+ spud & tazzy [edit] + littlegirlbunny !![/edit]

Get the survey done to get the suspected asbestos analysed. That will give you the information you need before disposal can be costed. This is a job I have done many times in the past (retired building surveyor) and disposal of asbestos cement sheet isn’t too problematical.

I had an asbestos ceiling in my garage which needed removing, I had a servey done at mates rates that revealed it was crysotile and I could have left it, but deceided to remove it, the quotes were £800 to remove and dispose and £400 to dispose if I removed it myself.
In the end I researched and obtained the correct PPE and disposed of it through my local council amenity waste site ,who took it in 100Kg loads and long as it was double wrapped in the correct plastic.
Get the servey done as crysotile isn’t as nasty as some types, then make your own mind up when you have the facts from an expert.

A roofer just quoted us £1200 for removing the asbestos roof of our garage and replacing it with tiled.

One thing to be aware of is that there is a very big difference between asbestos cement and asbestos insulation board.

Cement is the stuff most people associate with asbestos – profiled garage roofs for example. This tends to be Chrysotile (white) (although older sheets often also contain blue and brown) and doesn’t release fibres too easily unless it is heavily disturbed – for example by smashing or the use of power tools. That doesn’t mean that it’s harmless though, and good practice with water damping and appropriate PPE should still be used to remove it.

Insulation board, although still a ‘sheet’ material, normally contains at least some brown asbestos, is easy to damage (you can normally cut it with a knife), and easily releases fibres if it does get disturbed. For example, a study has recently looked into the risks of pulling drawing pins from insulation board because the risk of teachers getting mesothelioma. Turns out that pulling one pin releases up to 6000 fibres. You can imagine how many fibres will be released if a dodgy builder decides he can pull a sheet out without too much worry…. This is why removal of AIB is so expensive. It is normally done under controlled (enclosure) conditions.

This is a link to the study
http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/meetings/iacs/acts/watch/010206/paper2annex1a.pdf

Our garage roof is the cement-coated one, which explains the lowish cost. Might even remove that myself then, when the time comes.

miketually – Bury council has a pretty good webpage for householders on garage removal which may be of use 🙂

http://www.bury.gov.uk/environment/pollution/hazardousandtoxicsubstances/asbestos/default.asp

^that link is for domestics only though – you can’t get away with doing that if it’s a commercial enterprise!

That’s really useful, thanks.

My place had asbestos cement panels for every ceiling when I bought it. Quote to remove was around £4k, the other option was simply to board over it (ie add battons and lower the ceiling by ~4″). I did my research and found that asbedos cement isn’t very dangerous, and isn’t the sort you need specialists to remove. I removed it all myself, whilst wearing old (disposable) clothes and disposable type approved masks, and used a type H vacuum to clean up afterwards (cost about £300 to buy the hoover, now use it as a regular hoover after replacing the filters, its very powerful). most of the panels split upon removal (some landed on me) – i wrapped them up once down, and stashed in the shed. Took to the local dump in small batches (4 bags a month officially, I managed 6 bags per weekend day) and had shot of it all within a few months.

Total cost – my own labour + a £300 hover. Even renting a skip to put all the panels in would have been > a grand. Asbesdos cement sheets is fairly safe (the cement traps the fibers in). You have to be careful if breaking it (which happens anyway, when you’re taking it down)

I expect your flue surrounding will be cement board (but don’t take my word on it) so ripping it down should be reasonably ok. If you want to borrow my hover (I’m in Brighton) – you’re welcome as long as your replace the filters/bags after

H

ps. rather than get a survey done, I just got a removal company round to give me a quote. Figured they knew what they were on about.

General rule of thumb (dangerous thing, I know!) but if the sheet is external and weatherproof and has asbestos content, it will be asbestos cement sheet.

You don’t NEED a contractor for all types of asbestos removal e.g. pre-fab garage you could do yourself with right PPE and a skip from a licensed waste contractor.

I’m in exactly this situation – I’ve an asbestos garage (well, probably about half of one now) which needs tearing down and removing. Local tip recycling centre have said they’ll take it and given me a load of what looks like visqueen bags, some sort of heavy polythene anyway.

Problem is, I’ve never got around to it cos I’m terrified. Is it something you’d advise as being ok to DIY? What am I looking at, paper boiler suit and asbestos-approved breathing mask?

@Cougar – if you look up there^ there is a link I posted for Miketually from the Bury Council website that deals with removal of domestic garages. It will give you some good advice, but if you need any more just shout 🙂

5lab – Member
I expect your flue surrounding will be cement board (but don’t take my word on it) so ripping it down should be reasonably ok. If you want to borrow my hover (I’m in Brighton) – you’re welcome as long as your replace the filters/bags after

I would say you are incorrect with this statement. In a property of this age, flue surrounds are just as likely to be brown asbestos and be insulation board.

ps. rather than get a survey done, I just got a removal company round to give me a quote. Figured they knew what they were on about.

This is true to a point – however, they will just price on what you show them you want removed. There may be other issues in the property which are not apparent unless you are a trained surveyor, particularly if refurbishment is planned. There is also the issue of independence – at least an independent surveyor will give an honest opinion of the extent of removal/remediation (if any) required.

psling – Member

General rule of thumb (dangerous thing, I know!) but if the sheet is external and weatherproof and has asbestos content, it will be asbestos cement sheet.

General rule of thumb is a dangerous thing to go by when dealing with something as hazardous as asbestos. For example, soffit boards, when they contain asbestos, are more often AIB than cement (in my regular experience of sampling and testing these materials).

Just read that link now, ta. (I opened it in another window when I read the post, then forgot about it… o..O).

Think I might give it a go, then.

Cougar – one thing that’s worth knowing is that you want an FFP3 type of mask for use with asbestos.

Here is a HSE sheet on asbestos PPE

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/em6.pdf

Although this is designed for a commercial situation, it may still be useful to you to put your mind at rest!

Remember the mask is the last line of defence. The key is to keep the cement damp and take it off in whole pieces as far as possible. Wearing a mask won’t protect you from smashing the sheets into a million pieces 😉

Thanks so much for the responses it’s much appreciated, I may well take up the offers of further advice.
I had a “management” survey done today (£500 things are expensive here!!)as anything more would be destructive to the property.
Ultimately I would expect major renovations (ceilings out, extensions, new rooms, extensions out and up, rewire and replumb etc) or if I can get planning permission full demolition and rebuild, oddly its built on top of a concrete WW2 bunker so demolition will be challenging – so I will need to get another demolition asbestos survey at that stage.
Verbaly the surveyor has said that the artex looks fine, but he’s taken a few samples to check. He’s also arranging for quotes for any removal.
Fingers crossed for an all clear result.

We had some taken out at work. The firm looked to be doing all the right things, area sheeted up, extraction & breathing masks. Material sealed into bags & into a van & taken off site…

…to local shagging spot & dumped. 😐