Do you need a Home Buyer Asbestos Survey?
If you have lived in the same property for a long time, or even if you have bought a property recently, you might believe that there is no chance that it contains asbestos. However, it should be noted that if a property was built before 2000, it cannot be guaranteed that it is free from asbestos, as this was an extremely popular building material for many years, before it was banned.
In fact, it may even be the case that asbestos could be ‘hiding’ somewhere in your property without you realising. Many people imagine that they would be easily able to spot asbestos, perhaps assuming that all asbestos looks the same. But the truth is that asbestos was often used as a constituent material in other products, meaning that it can be effectively invisible.
Here are three places in your home that you might find asbestos – in many cases, the material is hiding in plain sight!
Artex
It is well known that some forms of Artex and similar ceiling coatings contain asbestos – but you might not realise it can be almost impossible to tell the difference between Artex that contains asbestos, and Artex that doesn’t. This means that it could be the case that the Artex on your ceiling has been sitting there for many years without you knowing.
Do not panic if you have a patterned ceiling coating – firstly, it is important to point out that even Artex that contains asbestos is typically not a risk to your health unless it is heavily worn or it has been damaged.
Concrete
Asbestos was often a constituent part of cement mix, especially when used in sheds and other outbuildings. This means that it is imperative that if you are thinking of demolishing any building on your property that contains cement, you should check whether it contains asbestos first.
Once again, many new homeowners simply do not realise that these buildings contain asbestos, as the previous owner may not even have known and therefore could not have provided this information when they made the purchase.
Toilet cistern
Some older styles of toilet cistern used a small quantity of asbestos in order to make them stronger and more resistant. If your home has an older style toilet, it could be that the cistern has asbestos in it.
The good news in this scenario is that the asbestos cannot cause harm unless it is damaged or heavily worn.
If you believe that you might have any kind of asbestos in your property, either in the forms described above, or in any part of your home, you may need to have an asbestos survey carried out. Get in contact with Crucial Environmental today for more information about asbestos hiding in your home.