Asbestos testing

[Jim Ingram]

Hi,

I'm thinking of doing some building work. The property was originally constructed (1973) will an oil fired central heating system which resided in a 'boiler house' almost in the centre of the property (terrace house) with a flue ca. 4inch steel pipe enclosed in a 10by

10 inch galvanised steel duct going straight up to the roof. The whole system is now redundant and the boiler itself removed sometime in the past. I would like to demolish this enclosure (not a problem structurally) and remove the flue/duct.

However, there is some foil backed board on the party wall behind where the boiler was. I would guess that this could well be AIB. I would also guess that there a possibility that the duct could be filled with loose asbestos.

Is there any where that I could simply take (South East)/send a couple for analysis without having to commit to a full survey. From what I can gather it only a matter of looking samples under a microscope/polarised light

[Malcolm Stewart]

I recall that when we were having some asbestos investigation / removal work done (in Milton Keynes) the lab technician was from a Watford (or maybe south London) based lab. Try Yellow Pages etc. or the Asbestos Removal Contractors Association website

sure that any samples are wrapped in full accordance with the Regulations otherwise I guess that you won't be able to get them accepted. (Can't remember the details but double bagging, seals, red labels etc.)