Renovation - 1940's-1050's council house - how much asbestos is likelyl?

[tester]

Hi,

I've been stripping paper and clearing things with the intent to do plastering and some plumbing / re-wiring (moving) sockets.

I saw some footage on the tv today that showed an auction property that had what looked like a boarded ceiling - sort of like I have joining the hall to the under stairs cupboard. It's hard material with a 'thunking' noise when tapped hard.

I thought it might be some normal boarding but the tv footage stressed such materials are likely to be asbestos sheeting. How much asbestos stuff are you likely to find in older houses i.e. flooring, ceilings, etc? Would the council have removed such stuff in the past or left it?

I do not own this house but am fed up with the poor aesthetics - so will pay myself to do some modernisation - the council will not internally renovate without good cause. As you are not supposed to drill into asbestos sheeting, and you are likely to do this from time to time if fitting things to ceilings - would the council leave such sheeting in place?

[Peter Parry]

Possibly a fair amount, asbestos cement board was quite popular.

Left it; undisturbed it is harmless.

You don't have a good cause if you are trying to use Chrysotile cement sheet as your excuse.

Chrysotile cement sheet is pretty harmless stuff. If you are concerned don't drill it without wetting the area first to contain dust.

Yes, that is the H&SE recommended course of action.

[meow2222]

is it cement sheet or not? If its thin cement sheet, it probably will be asbestos. If its any of the other possibilities, it wont be. How often properties use asbesos sheet wont tell you if yours does or doesnt.

Your fear of drilling a hole in it shows how a sense of proportion is too often missing from safety advice.

NT

[tester]

Thanks for all the feedback - especially the bit about wettting it to drill a hole. The thing is how is anyone supposed to know what is and is not asbestos - if I start lifting floorboards, removing metal pipes that go down the outside of walls carrying the electric cables (yes really) and placing them protected in the walls, etc, I was concerned about asbestos sheets, dust, etc. Many people renovate their homes (old ones), but this house really is very old in design, and being council, I have to be careful what I do to modernise it without causing trouble. Asking the council for advice will probably be 'leave things alone - meaning live in a crap-hole for ever because we will not improve things to modern standards - even though they are supposed to.

I still have a bakerlite fuse box on the hall wall with metal pipes as stated feeding it and from it. Twice the council doing inspections have said that will need to be changed - years on, still no action.