Hello to anyone who has the patience and time to read this
During a bathroom renovation we've gone and cut a horizontal soil pipe down using a grinder with metal cutting discs, because it fooled us into thinking it was a cast iron pipe due to the appearance of rust on one end of it. Turned out the part of the pipe that has been cut was a different material, and is almost certainly white asbestos containing cement. This happened internally. I wasn't the one stood over it cutting it, I was in and out of the room maybe twice to remove some stuff , shutting the door each time. I would say the cutting went on for 15 minutes in total. The guy cutting the pipe then came downstairs where I was with the cut piece and we went outside with it where he said it was an odd material and at that point I realised that it could possibly be asbestos. I got into an argument with him, he left immediately taking the pipe with him. After a small breakdown I went and picked up a respirator mask and came back to clear the room , sprayed it down with soapy water in a squeezy bottle and hoovered the room although I would've expected a lot more visible dust as there was hardly any except around the immediate site of the cutting and even then it wasnt much - I've cut into brick before and the entire room turns visibly dusty immediately but this did not happen here although I appreciate asbestos fibres can be invisible to naked eye. This was an internal upstairs bathroom. The bathroom window was open at the time as was the landing and all bedroom doors shut. We still had bathroom stuff in there , plus tools. I threw out everything including tools bathroom cabinets etc taking the shortest route outside. My partner and 2 young kids were out at the time. After cleaning with soapy wate and kitchen towel and hoovering , I binned my clothes and the hoover and took a shower in the downstairs bathroom and left that upstairs bathroom door shut for several weeks cleaning the landing and rest of the house with a brand new shark hoover . The next time I went in there I went in with dust suit and new respirator and stupidly hoovered it down again with a boggo building site titan hoover (non h class as a I later found out should've been used) keeping the door shut and window open but still I believe this isn't good. Again, binned my clothes after that and the hoover I used Has been put in a shed outside. I've been careful not to use the same hoover in the bathroom as anywhere else in the house. I dont know why I didn't call a specialist straight away I was terrified and didn't want to know for sure it was asbestos and thought I could just deal with this and put behind me. Fast forward to now 7-8 weeks after he incident I've not stepped foot in that room, the fear and anxiety has grown and I've called up.a specialist who is coming to test the material and who will properly clean the area if its a positive test. The specialist has put the Willie's up me , who commended me for using soapy water at first but said I shouldn't have hoovered it with normal hoover. Please anybody help , I'm so concerned for my family's(2 young kids) well being , we have to live in this house and I feel like I've given them all a death sentence. I'm normally so careful I already had tests done elsewhere in the house. Now I feel like there are asbestos fibres everywhere in my sons beds , etc. Anxiety is huge and bordering on suicidal thoughts which is extreme and awful (selfish too I know, I cant bear these thoughts