watervole: (Default)
Judith Proctor ([personal profile] watervole) wrote2019-12-10 01:52 pm

Asbestos

 Hit an unexpected wrinkle while decorating the lounge.

The decorator painted the ceiling yesterday, and it started peeling round the edges, bringing some of the artex with it.

It only peeled where he'd been using the brush, bits done with the roller were fine. We're using a paint that's virtually free of VOCs and it's a bit thicker, so that may be the cause.

However, a quick Google revealed that most houses of our age with Artex ceilings have asbestos.

Getting an asbestos test takes 3-4 days and we want this over before Xmas....

So, taking advice from my daughter who did some DIY asbestos removal earlier this year, we had  a discussion with the painter (who would probably have been happy to remove all the artex with no protection at all - seemed more worried about getting an even finish than the risk to his health).  We've bought disposable PPE, disposable floor covering and will take the whole lot to the asbestos section in the tip when he's done.

Much to my relief, we have also discovered a product called X-tex which is specifically designed to remove Artex and does so without creating dusts and hence is massively safer when asbestos is involved (it specifically says it's good for Artex with asbestos).
pensnest: Excuse me; Shazzam!; A firework explodes; that's better. (Shazzam)

[personal profile] pensnest 2019-12-10 05:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Arg, yes, asbestos in the Artex was a Thing, and is very tiresome. We had some of that, and had to have the dining room ceiling cleared while we were getting the extensions done. Fortunately our builder disapproved of the first quote he found, and got us a nice cheap chap who was in and out in a day with no problem. Bit of a spaceman theme while he was here, mind you.

I get the impression that the professionals are not that worried about it, too!
vera_j: (Default)

[personal profile] vera_j 2019-12-10 09:03 pm (UTC)(link)
It is good you are able to deal with this problem. We don“t have asbestos issue but when we were exchanging old roof tiles for new ones, there was ETERNIT covering our verandah flat roof. We had to take it to a special place for dangerous waste and it was EXPENSIVE.