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Possible asbestos in home has been disturbed, not realised

Orangelime
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We have artex ceilings in the hallway and under stairs. Survey report on house said asbestos may be present. For some reason, we never followed it up. The ceiling under the stairs has been disturbed from accidental knocks to it and where it was partially broken already, it crumbled more because of these knocks. I remember once breaking a part of it away, and it crumbling, before thinking I should stop, as it would be a pain to re-plaster. We even drilled into the ceiling to install a smoke alarm once. 

A recent conversation made me think I should check the report on the house, which I have tonight. It's an old Victorian house, and that is when I saw again that there is a risk if asbestos in these ceilings. We will be getting an asbestos specialist in immediately to find out for sure. We have lived here for a year and a half. The ceiling was disturbed between a year and 6 months ago. 

I know all might be ok, and only the specialist will be able to tell and then the GP can provide further medical advice, but I am now quite worried and I am just looking for some reassurance. If it is asbestos and we have well and truly breathed it in on two occasions, and then lived in it for a further 6 months - year, is this length of exposure a severe risk or low risk? I have tried searching for answers on how long the exposure has to be before it is harmful, but have only got vague responses of 'many years', but maybe it's not known. If anyone does know from experience or knowledge, I'd be very grateful for your thoughts.

Thank you.

  • Offline in reply to N12

    I've sent you a friend request, but to save time, just ask me what you want on here. 

  • Offline in reply to ElenaS

    Hey Elena,

    Stressed out of my head. My son and pregnant wife just bought a house-  built in late 1930’s. They had door frames ripped out and used a steamer to remove the 4 layers of wallpaper in the living room.

    My son removed the bathroom and kitchen tiles and they’ve been in and out for last 3-4 weeks getting builders and plasters in. Lots of debris from wall stripping and plaster and cement from where architrives and door frames removed.

    Three  questions- 

    House is very warm despite the cold outside - The walls seem very solid. Could there be asbestos insulating board in the walls??

    Risk of asbestos exposure from the work they’ve carried out? 

    Asbestos from wallpaper removal and cement and plaster.? 

    Thanks

  • Offline in reply to N12

    By "in the walls", if you mean in the cavity it is almost certain that nothing is there. Most cavity wall insulation was done from the 90's onwards and asbestos was not used for that. Asbestos was widely used after WW II, but not used much in housing before then. It is very common in houses built in the 60's and 70's.  Asbestos Insulating Board was more likely to have been used in an industrial setting. The biggest risk for asbestos usage will have been decorating in the 60's and 70's, and applying Artex to the ceilings.

  • Offline in reply to Jak99

    Please could I get the details of these individuals. My wife is riddled with anxiety about this issue and we have no way of resolving it without speaking to experts  at this point. Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated. 

  • Offline in reply to Isakalex

    Hello, I've read the whole thread and I know that Jeff has been gone a while, but was wondering if anyone else has any insight into this. A few years ago I briefly sanded a stippled ceiling in an attempt to smooth it. It didn't work too well so I gave up, and instead scraped it off. I have no idea how much of a dose / exposure the sanding is likely to have been. I'm extremely worried now. Would anyone have any experience or insight into this?

  • Offline in reply to Jak99

    Hi Jak. Hopefully, you're still monitoring this account as I saw your comment and was very intrigued. I've started to become increasingly worried about some DIY work my wide and I did several years ago - scraping and sanding of some textured ceiling and wall paints. Your comment about the 250 years was something I haven't seen before. Where is that from? Do you have a UK contact or specialist you spoke to? We don't have access to the property anymore so it's hard to get a sample but I'd just like to speak to an expert (that isn't incentivised to terrify me). Thanks.

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