[Closed] Asbestos removal

.... or simply overboard and skim it.

Are you sure it has asbestos, a quick test can save a lot of hassle down the road?

Are you completely ruling out doing it yourself, as you can dispose of asbestos waste at most authorities waste centres, if not, then as above might be good, if it's a landing ceiling can it just be overboarded?

Also, is it just to remove the asbestos, so basically you can just scrape off the textured finish, or if it's been painted removing the paint, then the texture, or full removal of the ceiling?

I agree with sharkbait. Unless you need to make load of holes into it for pipework or such like?

Does overboarding it cause a problem in the future, particularly if you ever want to sell?

Please don't do it yourself, the rooms need to be properly sealed and air vacumms established with blowers etc

And you need all the kit and training.

Does overboarding it cause a problem in the future, particularly if you ever want to sell?

Not really.
(I mean..... you bought the house presumably without having an issue with it)

On reflection wouldn't it be simpler to skim over it and not overboard it?

Tacking another layer of plasterboard over it would require finding the joists, which would result in failed attempts, pilot holes, using a joist detector, screwing, and generally disturbing the artex and thereby releasing asbestos fibres.

Ummm.... no!

Joists can be easily found simply by knocking on the ceiling and confirmed by drilling a small hole or knocking a nail in. Once you've found two joists you know the spacing so the rest is just measurement and marking in pencil.

Plasterers would def prefer to overboard and skim than go over a textured surface (and they may want the high points of the existing surface removing) - it's way better.

(I mean….. you bought the house presumably without having an issue with it)

Maybe, maybe not - depends if you knew. Could have been years ago, previous owner may not have known, correct survey not instructed. But the fact you now know about it does change that a bit.

As mentioned above the best thing to do is encapsulate it either by overboarding and skimming or just skimming the ceiling.

The regulations are here:

HSE.GOV.UK "https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l143.pdf"

However any artex (Texture coat) of a certain age will have up to 2% Chrysotile in it. As a ACM surveyor the likely hood of any sample taken from your ceiling containing a valid sample is slim. For that reason it is always assumed that it does contain Asbestos, however it is 'Unlicenced' from a classification, meaning that you do not have to have a licenced contractor to carry out any works on it.

If you do remove the ceiling you run into the problem of disposing of it. It will need to be double bagged and taken to an approved tip. Also for safe removal you will need full PPE (FPP3 mask, disposable overalls etc), and the ceiling will need wetting to minimise dust and airborne fibres.

In short speak to a good plasterer and get them to encapsulate it.

Also FYI work on the assumption that if your house was built before Nov 1999 it is likely to contain asbestos.

HTH

confirmed by drilling a small hole

Into the artex presumably. Which would result in asbestos fibres being released. There is no amount of asbestos which is okay to breathe in, once you breathe it in and it embeds in your lungs it stays there forever.

And I would never guarantee to anyone that their joists are correctly spaced out, unless I had done it myself.

Which would result in asbestos fibres being released

Maybe you should read the knowledgeable post above.

Drilling a 2 or 3 mm hole through some artex that possibly has a 2% asbestos content is less risky than taking a sample.
In fact you wouldn't even need to drill, you could easily push a nail through a sheet of plasterboard.

The risk involved is slim to f*** all.

I did read the knowledge post above. I wouldn't drill or screw into any material containing asbestos. HSE says there is no safe asbestos level, however small it might be. If you feel different that's fine. But as someone who worked with asbestos as young carpenter before strict regulations were introduced** I would rather not add to what is undoubtedly already in my lungs.

** I remember when brown asbestos was "safe" but blue asbestos wasn't, or was it the other way round? I remember being told that asbestoslux was fine because it didn't contain that much asbestos ffs. My compulsory day long asbestos awareness course a couple of years back so that I could do refurb work on asbestos riddled London theatres certainly drove home the dangers.

The ceiling contains chrysotile asbestos. It has previously been skimmed over but is damaged following a roof leak and can't be overboarded

Can you lose 2" height? Frame of 2x2 fixed only to the walls, board and skim?

Edit: while doing it fill the frame with higher density rockwool type batts or Kingspan and make a big improvement in insulation too.

No. Can't lose ceiling height unfortunately.

You're just going to have to do the old 3 quotes rule, if you're a member of facebook then local groups can be good to get advice, recommendations and quotes.

It's just going to cost a lot of money unfortunately, the safety protocols and business rates for asbestos disposal are high, it's why it's always worth working out if you can do it yourself, but you do need to understand the risk and how to mitigate it.

and can’t be overboarded

It doesn't matter if the existing plasterboard is damaged - when overboarding the new plastboard is screwed through to the joists.
The condition of the existing ceiling is basically immaterial.

Guessing it's peace of mind, just a pain of a thing to get quotes for, hence check any local groups that have good info in your area, when i was looking for the asbestos roof on the garage to be removed and disposed they were quoting 1200 to 2k, i've managed to get rid of it down the local tip for about 50 quid worth of plastic wrapping and a tenners worth of gaffer tape.

Definitely can't be overboarded. Cheers though

I simply don't understand why it can't, but whatever.