Hi Orangelime. Welcome to the forum.

I'm not a doctor nor am I an expert on asbestos. However, this question pops up regularly on this forum. 

The asbestos in Artex was Chrysotile, or white asbestos, and it made up about 2% of the mix. Whilst white asbestos cannot be called "safe", it is definitely the least hazardous form.  Furthermore the body will naturally clear out a small number of white asbestos fibres over time.  The low concentration of asbestos means that the number of fibres released will be quite low if you cut or drill it, with many fibres remaining trapped in the other 98% of material that fell to the floor and got swept up. 

You asked about the risk to your family.  Perhaps not surprisingly, there are no figures for the number of people who have died due to exposure to asbestos in decorative products.  However in 2016 there were 2,197 male deaths and 398 female deaths from mesothelioma. I hate to use gender stereotyping, but I suspect that few of those women were exposed at work, which means they must have been exposed to asbestos elsewhere. In the home, perhaps?  Now 398 sounds a lot, but to put it in context, 3500 people die in the home each year from simple accidents; 1800 die each year in road accidents; 1500 die from accidental poisoning; 1500 die each year from falling in the home; 5-10 die each year putting on their socks.  

So, although you're kicking yourself that you disturbed the material, you have done what most other householders (including me!) have done at some time - disturbed the Artex in the ceiling and possibly breathed in the fibres. But the extra risk to your family appears to be minimal and definitely nothing to panic about. It most certainly isn't a death warrant that will be hanging over everyone's head for years to come. You're getting expert advice on what to do next, but maybe sealing the damaged areas and being more asbestos aware is all that you'll need to do. Almost certainly removing the Artex would be more dangerous than leaving it in place and keeping it properly sealed. 

I'll also add one further point. Smoking and asbestos are a lethal combination. If you or any of your family are smokers, then now might be a good time to quit. 

So I guess the take home message is Don't Panic. 

Thank you for this. Really appreciate you replying. I do feel reassured now! 

Morning Jac

I have found my way here through googling :( I was on holiday last week and telling a story of when I Jachammered up a concrete floor in my Victoria home 10 years ago to find 'tiles' buried.. lond story short - no mask and hidden asbestos by the developers - the builder I was talking to said "oh my god you've got a few years left at best then" this has scared the bejeeezus out of me so I'm wondering if I can get the name of your expert witness to contact him / her please ~ Thankyou 

Thankyou 

Hi. Thank you for the reassuring messages. I also did research around fibre concentration and risk and indeed it is low. However, what I'm worried about is not the initial exposure but longer term breathing in of the dust. We had our ceiling scraped for replastering and didn't know the risk. Therefore the living room was only cleaned normally. So we lived breathing in the residual fibres from the work over a few years. This could be worse than the initial exposure so I'm really worried. I can't quite figure it out from all the information. I'm suffering such anxiety so any help is appreciated.

Hi I have added you as a friend and hoping you could message me as I am worried about exposure and would like to hear your experience 

Hi Gem and welcome to the community.

I noticed you were hoping to connect with Jak99. Unfortunately they haven't been back on the forum since October 2021 so there's a chance you may not get to hear about their experience.

I really hope that won't be the case, but if they don't get back to you, then I hope this information provided by the British Lung Foundation as well as all the experiences shared in this thread can offer you some comfort and reassurance at this worrying time.

Kind regards,

Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator

Hi 

I have found this really reassuring I came home to find dinning room ceiling down and panicked cleaning up the mess and also cutting old plaster board to tidy up edge. 

I didn't realise plasterboard was also a risk, do you have any info on the risk from plaster board?

Thanks,

Martin 

Hi Martin,

This risk of asbestos within plasterboard is extremely rare. More common boards which contain asbestos would be insulating board and cement paneling. However, the only way to be sure is to get it tested and analysed.

Regards,

Chris - Asbestos Expert.

Hi,

Thank you for your advice on here. We are having damp work done / tanking & have had coving taken down which was attached to an asbestos celing. I have been so anxious as the builders are still here & there is dust everywhere. We are staying in the property as the work is done.

After reading your advice I feel more settled we have not been exposed to dangerous levels. However do you know how I should get rid of the dust? Most of the dust is from plaster board coming down but the coving would have disturbed some of the artex celing.

I feel like the constant dust layer everywhere is asbestos but I know in reality that's not the case. 
 

thanks fir your help 

Hi, I just wondered if anyone could help?

There has been a lot of useful info on this thread but I've gotten myself in a complete state of panic after a lot of Google research. 

We live a house that was built in 1995. About 6/7 years ago we had a flood in our loft from the boiler. One of the plumbers that came to fix it ended up putting his foot through the ceiling that is in my little ones built in wardrobe. All the ceilinging upstairs have artex on them. Therefore he had a big hole in his ceiling and a lot of the artex came down going all over his clothes and all in the wardrobe.

We still haven't sorted this out, just put a board over it in the loft. I've only just found out that there is a possibility that the ceilings could contain asbestos. He still has the hole and the artex his hanging off. 

We have sent off for a kit to test it but I'm beyond panicking that my child has been sleeping in a room for all of these years and also had clothing that could have had fibers on it. I can't remember if I washed them at the time. 

I've moved him out of the room until the test is done but I'm so worried it's too little too late. 

Does anyone know the likely hood that the artex will contain aspestos. It's a David Wilson Homes house built in 1995.

Any help or advice with be greatly, greatly appreciated. 

Thanks! 

Hi,

Asbestos in Artex was phased out throughout the 90s and finaly completely banned in 2000, however, its impossible to tell if asbestos is present without having it analysed. But the asbestos risk in artex is very low. You'd be shocked where you find asbestos its in 1000s of products, artex ceilings is extremely low risk compared to most. But in all honesty, I'd b surprised if there was positive artex in a DW build, generally the big companies starting phasing everything out on the first ban in 1985.

Moving forward in future renovations, I'd highly recommend that you have an asbestos survey done prior to works taking place, during a survey an expert will go through your property and inspect all areas what could be disturbed and ensure no asbestos is present. Some of the things what tradesmen have done are very shocking as they have little to no asbestos experience.

Regards,

Chris- Asbestos expert 

Hello there

Just saw your post and wondered if you can help please.

I am a bit worried about asbetos. Our house was build in 2004 and in 2014 we had a build extension on ground floor, just extra room. The work took around 5-6 months and we were living in the house. Potentioally breathing the dust. Now it made me worried that our house containes asbestos and we were breathing the dust for 6 months. 

Thank you for you help

Hello there

Just saw your post and wondered if you can help please.

I am a bit worried about asbetos. Our house was build in 2004 and in 2014 we had a build extension on ground floor, just extra room. The work took around 5-6 months and we were living in the house. Potentioally breathing the dust. Now it made me worried that our house containes asbestos and we were breathing the dust for 6 months. 

Thank you for you help

Hi Jk,

Asbestos was fully banned in the UK in the year 2000, so any builds post 2000 won't contain asbestos.

Regards, 

Chris - Asbestos Expert

thank you so much for your answer.

Just also wondering I buy lots of clothes for myself and children second hand like charity shop etc. Do you think that there is a chance these clothes could have ever some asbestos on them as I really dont know which home are they coming from. 

Many thanks