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! 

Hello, 

can I just ask what precautions were made when cleaning? My husband has worked for the last 3 years doing diy for a loft conversion and has only just tested plaster and it’s come back traces of chrysolite. My girls and I have been living in this environment. He has hoovered up after him but probably not to professional standards. Our bedroom doors were closed whilst working, but could have easily been covered in a layer of plaster/the asbestos. Just wondering how I go about minimising the risk to the children, as I would really like to avoid throwing all our belongings. 

thanks in advance 

Charlotte 

• Just found this thread and in a similar situation to some people on it. I'm having renovations done on my new house which has Artex everywhere. I asked the plasteres to skim over it and overboard the ceiling so not to disturb it. When I arrived home with my young daughter, a cloud of dust(literally) flew out as I opened the door and they told me they had it bring down the ceiling as it wasnt stable enough to be skimmed. My young daughter clearly would have breathed the dust in. I'm trying to quantify the risk in my head, part of me is panicking but the other part thinks that there's so many houses with Artex in the UK that this or similar must happen a lot . I remember as a young kid in the 80s , my parents getting artex and the person mixing it in the house and the cloud of dust being everywhere, so it happened to me.  Anyway, I'm not sure what to think now and have a lot of guilt and worry about what's happened to my daughter.

Hello there. I know how you must be feeling as I was there too a few.months ago. As you say, there are thousands of houses across the UK that used white asbestos in the mix to make the artex ceilings. You'll find almost all houses in 1 street were constructed together with same floor plans and designs. The Close I live on are all the same more or less, and although lots have been renovated since the 60s, Im sure they all have white asbestos in them, including mine.

I panicked too but these homes had residents occupying them for decades. Grew old in these homes and raised children. People dont die from living in a home that contains asbestos. Those working in the mills and construction for years on end and being exposed to the particles daily, yes..im sure there was some risk there but even then, not enough to die from it.

White asbestos is the lowest grade snd different from the blue and brown which has a lot more danger to it if exposed. I found one man on here who commented in the earlier years,  he had some good links and did his own research after talking to some professionals and I really found his input comforting..im trying to repeat what I remember here for you.

Don't worry. Ideally you dont want to be shaving down and disturbing the particles of the artex as that is where the asbestos lies but a brief exposure from what I read is not going to give a death sentence.  This man who was on this thread frequently has commented to a lot of people reassuring them over the months at the time - i dont know who he is but I know he helped calm a lot of ppl, including me.

Asbestos removal companies are scaremongers and obviously there to make.thousands from people who have it in their house. Ultimately this asbestos that's removed only sits on a landfill anyway so I wonder what exposure the employees have there?! I called up frantic too, asking for help as my husband chipped away very slightly at our artex. Really nothing,  but I panicked. I got it tested and it was asbestos (FYI, dont do this because it could affect house price.if you ever sell, as youd need to tell them, its public record for 20yrs I think). Thankfully I just skimmed over all my artex and forgot about it, im sure you will too.

Pls dont worry about your daughter. I have 2 small children and I did too but again remembered these homes were occupied for years with no deaths related to asbestos. If so, they'd knock them down! Some ppl im sure have done worse to their artex and drills holes all through and still the ratio of exposure does not reach the levels needed for any damage.

The only comment would be if you know you have asbestos, just be sure to tell any construction workers so they can make an informed decision before doing work. You dont want any lawsuits of workers saying they weren't told.  Maybe get it in writing too and a signature?

To add, user name was Jak99 and he commented from pages 1-3..very insightful 

Thanks. I think they scraped away parts of the Artex too so it'll have released a fair bit of dust. I did tell them before they started butthey don't seem to have cared. I'm pretty angry about it. I read the early posts and it does seem it's very low risk (hopefully). There's really nothing I can do now as it's happened and we have to live in the house. This must be a very common occurrence as we've said, this stuff is everywhere and people will be doing renovations and disturbing it all the time.

Hi there, I was wondering if you had the details of the top expert you spoke to so I can contact them myself too about a recent concern we have please if that's ok? Thank you :)

Hi, going through a bit of a panic about artex  - points scrapped before skimming - and wondering how you have managed to deal with your situation. 

Hi, trying to make peace with the clean up I did following points on the artex being scraped by the plasterer before skimming the ceiling. I’m assured by chat on here about the  low level of exposure as it was a one off but have become slightly obsessed that I’ve not cleaned enough and wondered how you found closure after your message? 

Hi , Jak is possible to talk with you?

Hi @Drem I see that you’ve posted on another thread too. Please take the time to read through all the comments here  to get some reassurance about what you are going through just now. I was worried sick a couple of months ago but the posts on this forum helped me to get some perspective and rationalise what had happened and move on from my worrying. It will take time but you will get there too. 
Look for threads I posted on as there are really helpful comments from people who had the exact same worry and panic as I had, and you have just now. Reading those and staying away from online searches helped me so please try to do the same. 

Hi @Drem I see that you’ve posted on another thread too. Please take the time to read through all the comments here  to get some reassurance about what you are going through just now. I was worried sick a couple of months ago but the posts on this forum helped me to get some perspective and rationalise what had happened and move on from my worrying. It will take time but you will get there too. 
Look for threads I posted on as there are really helpful comments from people who had the exact same worry and panic as I had, and you have just now. Reading those and staying away from online searches helped me so please try to do the same. 

Thank you for yor attention.

I have a filling that i didnt done enought . But i will read in this forum and stay away from google . I hope your advice will help me and my wife .

Thank you!!!!