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I'm in the process of selling my late Grandmothers house, built in 1952. The buyers surveyor has correctly identified a risk of asbestos being present in the artex ceiling in the living room. I'm waiting to see if the buyer trys to knock the sale price a bit. I believe you can skim over with new plaster, but can you do this if a sample proves there is ACM present ? Anyone had experience of removing, or skimming ? room is approximately 29m2.
Yes you can go over it although sanding / knocking off the nibs should be avoided.
It the grand scheme of things is very low risk although if removing that volume, it would be done under a notifiable non licensed removal if done correctly. I've always done some reassurance air testing also unless it's on solid board that's removed cleanly in sections.
No way of telling prior to sampling and even then it's inconsistent due to the asbestos often being added into the Artex on-site. Surveyor may miss this if not taking composite samples from different areas of the ceiling.
I wouldn't be knocking much or anything off to be honest as it shouldn't be treated the same as AIB everywhere or even lagging ect.,
Thanks Andy.
I wouldn’t worry about it, you’re selling it - any buyer should know a house of that age is likely to have asbestos in the artex. Survey would say the same about any property with artex that was built before the 90’s just to ass cover.
I’ve bought 2 with artex ceilings from the asbestos era, last one had it on the walls too. De nib and skim, plasterer wasn’t bothered. No reason in my eyes to receive a lower offer because of it, it’s par for the course on properties like that, I’m guessing it’s a refurb anyway?
An aside...if you skim over it, does that not hide the existence of asbestos for future workers/work on the ceiling? Thereby creating a worse safety risk?
An aside…if you skim over it, does that not hide the existence of asbestos for future workers/work on the ceiling? Thereby creating a worse safety risk?
Not really, because any builder/plasterer/trade would know that anything built <90's would likely, or at least potentially have asbestos in it. And even if you skimmed it before selling a surveyor would probably still make the same note simply based on the age of the property.
This was pointed out on the last two houses that we have bought. I had a sample from each house tested and both confirmed presence of asbestos.
Most people just accept it when buying an older house with artex.
We had ours skimmed in both houses.