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Asbestos, or the suspicion of asbestos, showing up on your survey report can raise a red flag!

Most commonly seen in domestic properties as corrugated garage roofs, many houses built or refurbished from the 1940s to the 80s may well have asbestos in their floor tiles, insulations, textured wall coverings etc.

Not all asbestos is the same. White asbestos was frequently used in tiles and artex, but is usually well bonded, and its fibres are unlikely to come free in undamaged materials. Blue or brown asbestos (crocidolite, and grunerite or amosite) are the type it is essential to avoid.

Image (C) ARCA

Get a specialist contractor to determine whether your suspected asbestos is really asbestos, or just cement boarding, and they can then assess if it needs to be removed.

Some items containing white asbestos can be left in place if they are not damaged, as long as they are encapsulated. Encapsulation is the method used to ensure that sound asbestos-containing items remain protected, if this is the most economic way of dealing with it.

If you are paying someone to remove asbestos, use a licensed contractor – it is not unheard of for it to be taken away hidden in the bottom of a skip and disposed of as non-contaminated waste, (where it may find its way in to hard core), or in the worst cases even fly-tipped.

Image (C) ARCA

Unlicensed contractors are allowed to handle small amounts of white asbestos if it is ‘firmly bonded in to matrix’ such as ‘white’ cement, as found in some garage roof sheeting. Some local authority waste sites allow for small (again, about garage roof sized) amounts of asbestos to be tipped, but check with them first.

You would still need a specialist to determine which type of asbestos you have, so call in the professionals!