Asbestos Removal & Dust Mask

[Dave]

I have a house that has a few asbestos walls in it... but I know relatively little about the stuff itself. I know its pretty toxic stuff, and PE is required, but to what extent?...

If I was gonna spend a day removing a few asbestos based walls, which were made out of a concrete like hard panel sort of material which just 'snaps' rather than spreads and tears then what sort of PPE would I be looking at?...

The shits not gonna be broken, just disassembled and disposed off properly.
Im pretty sure you need a disposable boiler suite, but im more talking about the mask side of things, is there a certain micron level thats acceptable or what?... and again im not talking about in the workplace either which is 10000000x more anal than when your doing it yourself. I have a professional sprayers mask for spraying cars, and I would have thought if the mark type would protect a professional for a lifetime then it would be good for filtering normal air if its just dusty shit?

I realise I should go to a professional or rent proper stuff, but is it all really required? I dont have £££... thoughts

[Scott]

Also interested in this as I need to remove a garage roof which is potentially asbestos.

[306carter]

What you going to do with it once removed? Most skip places ect won't take it. And depends what level of aspestos?

And tbh the amount of asbestos that will be in the walls won't touch you. You need serious exposure to get aspestosis. I would bother with any ppe my self. But to be sure get a respertor mask from B&Q and a sperm overall should be less than £20.

When I used to do re-wires for the council every house had aspestos artex on the wall. We where ment to wait for an aspestos removal company to scrape off the artex where we wanted to do chases and chop boxes in. Toward the end of job we were just chasing out and then getting the aspestos company to sign it off. We had normally dust masks on and that's about it. The whole hype about aspestos has been blown out of the water. 50 years go people were basically eating the stuff and only a % got aspestosis these days you drill a hole and the HSE are breathing down your neck.

[Toms306]

Pretty sure you can take it out yourself, as SOME council dumps will allow it, and they dont allow commercial waste!

However my dad had a garage roof made of asbestos and wouldn't touch it as he was adamant you needed a licence to take it down.

[zx_volcane]

Most councils will take it if you arrange for them to collect it, and usually have some guidelines for safe removal.

Ie: http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/asbestos

[ash240970]

Licenced removal - had to do training course on handling the stuff when I was working for south staffs water.
The liabilities are endless if you don't remove it correctly and safely and put others at risk.

[cully]

you lot talk shit!

i wouldnt touch the stuff by choice

in work we have to full suit tape gloves to overalls and tape boots to overalls
face mask to FFP3 spec
this is to go within 2 mtrs of known asbestos
not to work on it!

once finished the coveralls and mask have to be disposed of as asbestos

[ash240970]

I'm with cully on this - the stuff is lethal!!!

[Niall]

you lot talk shit!

i wouldnt touch the stuff by choice

in work we have to full suit tape gloves to overalls and tape boots to overalls
face mask to FFP3 spec
this is to go within 2 mtrs of known asbestos
not to work on it!

once finished the coveralls and mask have to be disposed of as asbestos

Yup this it's Nasty nasty stuff. When I get home tonight I will look up exactly what mask you need in the book I got when I did the course.
Also, dumping it you have to be careful. If its not properly disposed of, you can be liable for other people coming into contact with it unprotected.

[D@wson]

For garage roof removals you need to phone the local tip and arrange to drop it off with them. You have to wrap the stuff in bin bags and make sure you seal them with tape. They provided me with special bags for it.

Also the concrete asbestos garage roof slabs are rated as low risk so if you ware a disposable boiler suit and are sensible with PPE and ware a mask you are fine to remove them. A tip is to make sure the garage roof is piss wet through so if a slab was to smash there is a lower risk of fibres escaping in the air. Either do it on a damp day or a rainy day to decrease the risk of airborne fibres.

[puglove]

Havnt read the thread so maybe rewritting stuff.


Iv done the training for this stuff.
Basicaly id get it tested to decide the grade. And how harmfull it is. If you start smashing this up in your house the fibres could remain in your house for the next 20-30 years slowly and painfully killing every one who enters.


Seek profesinal advice and dont just go on what people on a car forum say!!!!!!!!!! This may cost but its better then risking your familys life[/size]

[Dave]

Mixed opinions here, don't worry where we're going to dispose of it, we've spoken to the local authorities to dispose of it properly, and had someone in to inspect the type of asbestos it is...

Its one of the minimum harm ones, if there is a thing, but I mean it doesn't spread to dusty shit, it just snaps like concrete, and its not going to be broken up, just removed off the walls.
As for the amount there is... well its 2 small rooms really, which have asbestos panels as walls. Exposure to this would be maybe a couple of hours while removing a few nails holding each panel up.

What I really need to know is will a sprayers mask catch the particles if they were ever to be in the line of breath. Professional opinions would be based on safety if someone was going to be working in these conditions all day every day as a profession, in which case much higher doses would be received purely as a law of averages.

Some people would argue just douse the walls with water and get on with it, and some may say get professionals in to do it with all their PPE gear - but they will do that shit daily so have to be covered. I'm trying to figure out why all the stuff is needed, and can it be protected against using normal methods like suite/mask which will be exactly the same as getting a pro in to do it, who has all the gear that works just the same but is industry standard for toxic materials... its just dust? protect against breathing it in, shower straight after? as if it was any other form of toxic shit.

Pretty much all houses build before 1990 have some form of asbestos in, its only dangerous when its broken up/disturbed.

Niall, would be great if you could check in your book which mask is needed cheers

D@wson, yeh it is pretty much exactly the same as the garage roof slabs, being a concrete sort of solution - this is what the inspectoin said.

Dont know where to draw the line of being anal & overprotective, wasting 1000's on having it professionally removed, or just wearing a mask and bringing them out like with the garage roofs.

[THE_Liam]

My uncle died of asbestos related lung cancer from living near an asbestos factory in Leeds as a kid. It's nasty shit and although professional removal isn't cheap I wouldn't go near that shit myself...

[Matt]

What's the deal with asbestos? Can it kill from being undisturbed? I train in a room with an asbestos roof. Kinda got me thinking it might kill me haha.

[puglove]

No it cant it has to be disturbed and fibre get into the air. Non in tje caravan is there?

[Matt]

f*ck knows. Could be. I never understood what asbestos actually was. I mean is it solid or is it like the fury padding you find in the loft haha

[puglove]

Can be solid board, spray on fiber, the "soft padding stuff" or even loose fibers . It was used as insulation or fire break right up untill the 80's

[Matt]

Take it the exs loft is full of the stuff then haha.

What makes it so toxic? And surley the council would want to get rid of it?

[cully]

was only banned from being used since 2000
it was used in nearly eveything in the building industry
from toilet seats to artex ceilings to floor coverings

http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/gallery.htm

[puglove]

Its got little barbs on the fibers . Which means once its in your body cant get it back out. You body also cant break it down so it will always remain. Eventually you lungs cant handle it any more. To the point where you cant breath and have to be on oxygen. Eventualy it gets so bad it kills you

[Niall]

Matt not all loft insulation is asbestos so don't worry to much. As said, unless its disturbed, it's completely harmless.

[1616six]

I love this, we've been working in a garage full of dust & an asbestos roof all weekend...

pretty much gonna die.

[Niall]

I love this, we've been working in a garage full of dust & an asbestos roof all weekend...

pretty much gonna die.

Unless you destroyed the roof, you'll be fine. If it was just harmful to be around, it all would have been ripped out years ago.

[procta]

id get a professional to remove it tbh, i wouldnt be taking any risks with it.

[n0v0s]

asbestos particles less than 10 microns can be inhaled once airborne. The more asbestos inhaled the greater the risk obv. At present, i don't think there is a decided minimum amount required to cause asbestosis, generally though a level of 10 fibre/mL-years is a reasonable estimate.


But you could get Asbestos-related pleural changes which can occur at appreciably lower levels than those needed to cause asbestosis. Either way, not gd. It won't manifest immediately either. Best way would be to get a full face +ve pressure mask. But, seeing as you can't buy a new pair of lungs, I'd allow it

[Matt]

Thi shit is horrible. Barbs and all. Pretty much f*cked once in then haha

[Sambarker]

Lol I'm On an asbestos course at work in a couple of weeks

[Niall]

Lol I'm On an asbestos course at work in a couple of weeks

you will want to die by 12! Its the most boring day you can imagine.

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Ok i would just scan my notes in but my scanner doesnt work
Ive taken photos of a few pages that may be of some use. If anyone really wants to see all 60 pages, i can take photos of all of them

http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257.../Asbestos/

[Grant]

Only just seen this. Another thing to watch for;
a bloke at work got stung with this. Whoever installed the asbestos may have cut it during the installation process, and left behind dust/shavings. Even if you remove the asbestos without breaking it, you are still suspect to ingesting the spores from the cutting waste left behind.

Just something to watch out for

[cully]

there are case's of school teachers getting asbestoses
and the only exposure was from the dust from putting in drawing pins into wall boards containing asbestos