Asbestos in Artex (walls)

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chris16

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has anyone come across this

went round to a house to quote for a job kitchen walls covered in artex some of which had started to bouble and come away from the walls, he said the council had been round and told him the artex was leaking asbestos and he should get it sorted straight away (its a council house and they wont do nothing untill next year!!)

the walls are going to have to be scraped back to get rid of the loose artex but does this mean asbestos will be released into the air

i dont want to go in and just skim over the stuff have a feeling the artex would come away and peel off in sheets with the skim if l do that

Any ideas :-[ :-[
 
Most asbestos removal work must be undertaken by a licensed contractor but any decision on whether particular work is licensable is based on the risk. Work is only exempt from licensing if:

the exposure of employees to asbestos fibres is sporadic and of low intensity (but exposure cannot be considered to be sporadic and of low intensity if the concentration of asbestos in the air is liable to exceed 0.6 fibres per cm3 measured over 10 minutes); and
it is clear from the risk assessment that the exposure of any employee to asbestos will not exceed the control limit; and
the work involves:
short, non-continuous maintenance activities. Work can only be considered as short, non-continuous maintenance activities if any one person carries out work with these materials for less than one hour in a seven-day period. The total time spent by all workers on the work should not exceed a total of two hours,
removal of materials in which the asbestos fibres are firmly linked in a matrix. Such materials include: asbestos cement; textured decorative coatings and paints which contain asbestos; articles of bitumen, plastic, resin or rubber which contain asbestos where their thermal or acoustic properties are incidental to their main purpose (eg vinyl floor tiles, electric cables, roofing felt) and other insulation products which may be used at high temperatures but have no insulation purposes, for example gaskets, washers, ropes and seals,
encapsulation or sealing of asbestos-containing materials which are in good condition; or
air monitoring and control, and the collection and analysis of samples to find out if a specific material contains asbestos.
Under the Asbestos Regulations, anyone carrying out work on asbestos insulation, asbestos coating or asbestos insulating board (AIB) needs a licence issued by HSE unless they meet one of the exemptions above.

taken from - http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/regulations.htm

basically means youre allowed to take it off yourself long as youre careful and dispose of it correctly i.e. double bagged and taken down a registered site, most skip companies can supply an asbestos skip, you could see if theyll take a couple of bags

could always bill the council, seeing as they have a duty to protect their tennants etc...
 
my exposure will be alot more then the guidlines set down it will probably take most of a day to scrape it back and also once i start wont the dust just end up all over the house

i think its going to be more hassle then its worth

the house is having a new kitchen put in next year and is going to be re-wired the council will re-skim the kitchen then he is probably best waiting till then
 
well if the councils gonna wreck anything you do now why bother, i agree, in fact why ask you to skim it in the first place, sounds like he's winding you up mate..
and isnt it the duty of the council to remove it anyway, soon as it becomes apparent?
in fact ..."he said the council had been round and told him the artex was leaking asbestos and he should get it sorted straight away"...isnt it the councils responsibility, if i rent him a house, then go round and tell him its full of asbestos, its leaking into the atmosphere and its up to him to sort it wouldnt he tell me where to get off??
just thought you were up for an earner mate
its not that the asbestos is in dust form anyway, its mixed with artex, wont make that much dust and he could always wear a dust mask and polythene the doors up, then hoover the room out..
 
dont get me wrong i'm certainly not in a position to turn work down but i dont do work for work sake and take great pride in what i do and like to make sure the customer is happy, if i wanted to i could go in give it a quick re-skim, grab the money and run but i dont work like that, i would rather tell the customer to get the council to do the work as its there responsibility and loose the job

just thought i would ask about if anyone had had any contact with sort of thing before
 
my view, and thats all it is, is this.
I dont know enough abot asbestos to touch it.
I, like you, won't do a half arsed job.
So tell him to get the council to sort it then call you to plaster it.

I agree that the council have a duty of care to their tenant but that would be subject to a risk assessment and not something that I want to get involved in again. (I used to teach H&S risk assessing) :-[

bigsegs........ is ther anything you dont know or have you got a big book? ;)
 
hang on ill check....




nope, nothin, well thats what book says... [smiley=thumbsup.gif]
 
i took a garage down the roof was asbestos, (like big tile). i just wet them down to prevent dust wore a mask and painters suit, double bagged them took them to tip end of.
if you wanted to do the job mate i suggest you pva it 2-3 times to stop the dust, also get some masks painters suits. most tips take it but only small amouts, i had to pay the bloke at tip a tenner to empty my van of the stuff.
of cousre you should charge your customer for this, the council won't do anything and specialist firms cost a bomb.
end of day if you going to do it take it easy keep it pva'd and as wet as possible double bag it or you will have trouble gettin rid.
charge the customer not the council because you will not get a penny from them mate
 
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