Building survey missed obvious asbestos issue

[Bry-M]

Thanks for all the comments and <some> of the advice, lol.

 

Having spent the last few months educating myself on the matter from what I've learned AIB is fine until it gets broken up, then it releases a ton of fibres. As these boards are nailed into the joists there is no way of removing them without them breaking into pieces. Seeing as the living room is directly above the garage, on top of the joists are the floorboards, nailed to the bottom of the joists is the AIB so I'd rather not risk contamination of the house by trying to do it myself!

 

I've since found out that as I've had it tested and its been confirmed as AIB this comes under notifiable works and cannot be undertaken by myself (not sure what exactly would happen legally if I did).

 

All the firms I've had out to quote have said the same thing. Garage door will be removed then the garage sealed, airlock style. The whole room put under negative pressure to remove fibres whilst the work is underway. They all said minimum of 3 to 5 days to remove the boards and decontaminate fully.

Once done an independent tester will be required to confirm it has all been removed before the works can be signed off.

 

I've had a look and it seems the soffits might be asbestos as well. Not too bothered about them, they can stay for the time being. Can't be bothered going through the ombudsman again, lol.

Also they are straight forward to remove and I can do that myself with correct PPE. (double bag, swan neck etc) The local recycling place will accept household asbestos.

[team tractor]

TT noted ATB.

. See you at pw shoot

[mick miller]

It's nasty stuff, I'm pretty convinced I'm going to get some asbestos related problems later in life. Definitely better to hand it over to professionals.

Some examples of my exposure over the years...

 

Asbestos coal bunker 'den' as kids - we used to scratch our names into it whilst hiding inside.

Asbestos fencing - ditto with the name scratching (and of course, blowing the dust way).

Asbestos brake liners on moped drum brakes. Open the drum, blow out the contents (no, not with an airline but with your face right over it, refit and reassemble).

Asbestos well head lining - pull all that stuff out, without a mask, so you can leak detect the flanges.

Asbestos in Artex - and de-nibbing all the roofs in my first flat prior to having the ceilings re-plastered.

Asbestos in water tank in roof - disconnecting and dragging out of the way before fitting a mega-flo - although by then I was wearing a mask.

Edited February 14, 2016 by mick miller

[Psyxologos]

Thought some of you may find this interesting.

 

In September 2015 I purchased a two bedroom bungalow which sits above a double garage. I'd only had the opportunity to view it once very briefly so commissioned a full building survey to have it checked out.

 

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The garage only extends to half the width of the house, a couple of houses on the street had knocked through and opened up the other half and I asked the surveyor to have a look to see if this was feasible.

 

In the report he commented on the garage walls, floor, door, the boiler which was in there, the fuseboard etc The only thing that wasn't even mentioned was the ceiling.

 

 

After buying the property I need quotes for a full rewire and the first thing that the electrician asked was....'is that ceiling asbestos?'

 

 

 

I checked the report and saw no mention of it but decided to ring a few companies for prices to get it tested. Turns out dealing with asbestos is a license to print money! I was being charged £90+ for me to bring a sample to them and it would then be a 7 day turnaround before the results were known.

Turns out all those companies are just middlemen, they just send the sample off to a lab which you can do directly yourself. Cost me £30 and the result was given to me within 2 hours!

 

The ceiling was Asbestos insulation board made from white and brown asbestos.

 

I complained to the building surveyor but was met with 'if you read the small print all houses may contain asbestos and it can only be verified by testing which I am not qualified to do'.

He also wasn't qualified to talk about the gas, electrics etc yet that didn't stop him telling me about them, providing estimates for replacement etc

 

So, dismissing my complaint I took it to the ombudsman. My argument was that he should have seen and suspected it was asbestos and recommended I get it tested. If a spark can spot it straight away surely he should have? As it would have affected my offer on the house had I known.

 

To cut a long story short I wanted the fee for the survey refunded, the cost of the removal of the asbestos and the removal, storage and refitting of the powered garage door. (the asbestos removal people required it)

I had to supply 3 quotes for the above which including refunding of the fee came to £5k.

 

 

That all started on 25th september. A few days ago I received this reply:

 

 

 

 

 

Well, £4k is better than nothing! My faith in building surveyors is now nil. For next house purchase i don't think I'll bother.

 

Moral of the story, fight the system!

 

 

Well done for getting it sorted. Just one question. Can you please give some more details on going directly to the lab and getting it all tested faster and cheaper? How can I find them? Just in case I need them in the future, I do not need them currently, thankfully. Thanks!

[Bry-M]

http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/managing/sampling.htm

 

On the right hand side there is a link for 'search for a UKAS accredited laboratory'

 

Click that then enter your postcode

 

I just gave them a ring, told them the score. They were happy to accept the sample doubled bagged in bin liners and sealed with duct tape.

Edited February 14, 2016 by Bry-M

[Psyxologos]

http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/managing/sampling.htm

 

On the right hand side there is a link for 'search for a UKAS accredited laboratory'

 

Click that then enter your postcode

 

I just gave them a ring, told them the score. They were happy to accept the sample doubled bagged in bin liners and sealed with duct tape.

 

Thanks a lot for that, and well done again!