Asbestos & demolition surveys

[rh2205]

Just wondering whether there is anyone on here with experience of renovating a 1960s bungalow either extensively (floors/ceilings removed) or full demolition. There were some asbestos vinyl tiles and we are trying to work out whether the black bitumen stuff is likely to trigger specialist removal requirements too? There hasn’t been any obvious panels or other surprises either in loft or garage so far and we’re keep our fingers crossed about the fascias as they look fairly recent...

Edited August 25, 2019 by rh2205

[Patrick]

Sorry, not helpful, but this looks nasty. Can't figure out where the photo is from? Floor?sorry. Just edited: I can see, these are tiles. Had the same ones in my ex council house. Nothing to worry about them, just a bastard to take out sometimes.

Edited August 25, 2019 by Patrick

[rh2205]

This is the floor, tiles are gone, concrete below

Edited August 25, 2019 by rh2205

[Oz07]

Did something exact same recently. Lifted tiles, disposed of down tip. Used a cold emulsion based dpm ontop of this residue then arditex NA on top to seal/ level the floor.

[rh2205]

5 hours ago, Oz07 said:

Did something exact same recently. Lifted tiles, disposed of down tip. Used a cold emulsion based dpm ontop of this residue then arditex NA on top to seal/ level the floor.

Great thanks for info. We need to dig out at least some of the concrete floor for new soil pipe and heating pipe work etc so not clear on what this means for asbestos concerns as sealing it won’t solve the whole problem. If we get a asbestos survey will they want to test this part of the property even though black glue is basically ingrained into the concrete floor?

Edited August 25, 2019 by rh2205

[Oz07]

I wore a mask and crossed my fingers. By no means the best way to attack but I just got it done. If it's you it's at your own risk. Asking subbies to do for you bit different you bear a bit of responsibility then

[Gone West]

I removed our asbestos roof tiles. I wore the full kit with mask etc and damped down the tiles before removing, even though it was outside. I then gave them to the asbestos removal team, who were stripping the inside of the bungalow, and they bagged them up. They seemed a lot more casual about handling the asbestos (Chrysotile) than me.

[joth]

If I understand this correctly you've already removed and disposed of the tiles? That is the more dangerous step especially if the tiles broke up while being removed.

The bitumen layer that remains will have trace amounts but that should remain encapsulated in the tar and much less likely to get airborne.

There are online asbestos testing services you can use, not sure how much use it would be in this instance though.

 

If you're digging out some of the concrete anyway, strongly consider just digging up the whole floor. This will save on dealing with that bitumen and more importantly allow a descent amount of insulation to be laid under the floor, at least 100mm of EPS/XPS generally recommended.

 

 

Edited August 26, 2019 by joth

[rh2205]

23 hours ago, joth said:

If I understand this correctly you've already removed and disposed of the tiles? That is the more dangerous step especially if the tiles broke up while being removed.

The bitumen layer that remains will have trace amounts but that should remain encapsulated in the tar and much less likely to get airborne.

There are online asbestos testing services you can use, not sure how much use it would be in this instance though.

 

If you're digging out some of the concrete anyway, strongly consider just digging up the whole floor. This will save on dealing with that bitumen and more importantly allow a descent amount of insulation to be laid under the floor, at least 100mm of EPS/XPS generally recommended.

 

 

Thanks for info yes tiles are gone came up whole. We had considered initially digging up the entire floor for insulation & heating purposes but it sounds very costly having to reinstate everything like dpm, concrete, screed, hardcore. I was reading that there possibly isn’t a DPM layer anyway and the tiles and bitumen stuff might be all that was used along with 100mm concrete groundbearing slab (pretty cheap 1960 council construction). I wasn’t sure if the waste from the concrete would still be considered hazardous and the process of digging up floor might make the trace asbestos airborne. Maybe we’re overthinking it and with all the new plumbing it’s going to make very little difference how much of the floor is removed?

Edited August 27, 2019 by rh2205

[joth]

Yes, it's very likely there is no DPM back then - we're pretty sure our 1960s doesn't. We're planning to remove our entire slab to insulate so following this with interest.

 

Are you planning underfloor heating? This in particular helps from redoing the ground floor insulation

 

[rh2205]

We were planning on underfloor heating and then we started looking up costs for reinstatement, materials, labour etc as its about 117sqm of existing slab and started thinking it might be a bad idea... We might have more news on what we find at the weekend as we're hoping to prize up the bizarre floor tanking system put in the large retrofitted mobility access wet room which will leave a big hole and hopefully some clues at the edges.. We are still intending to put in a planning application for replacement, not sure it that will really help with the objective of saving money but it might just mean things are much less risky albeit will probably take longer but a better house at the end. Either way we need a fall back so doing what we can ourselves now as bungalow needs stripping and possibly even roof off to get rid of the maze of load bearing walls even if we have to retain it. We have certainly learned our lesson on what not to buy and we haven't even really started!

[joth]

The VAT savings on demolish+rebuild make that a surprising economic option - basically the more work you're planning to do all in one go (flooring? electrics? plumbing? kitchens and bathrooms? etc etc), the greater the case we'll be to knock it down and get the whole lot VAT free. And as you say, you'll then get a much better end result for the money.

 

 

[rh2205]

We have a 15% VAT reduction empty home on supply and install so that does offer some savings so the decision to demolish is more grey but it remains to be seen whether contractors will just try and absorb any savings in their profit and there will be limited scope for DIY savings as it is specifically contractor supply and install only (not that we really have much time for DIY with family and working full time but people on this forum have made that work). Also with the remodelling being so extensive with so much structural work its touch and go as to whether we really can even project manage all the trades as a retrofit does seem more complicated on research to date which means we could end up with a principal contractor and some very high sqm costs...