Asbestos Board Removal

From what I’ve seen, the older your property, the higher the chances it has asbestos. Asbestos was widely available in local building stores until the mid-1980s and this material wasn’t banned until the year 1993. Here’s a simple rule of thumb I like to use:

Before 1985: Highly likely to contains asbestos.

1985 - 2000: Likely to contains asbestos.

After 2000: Unlikely to contain asbestos.

Determining the exact age of your ceiling can be tricky. Even if your property is from the 70s, it may have been refurbished, potentially removing asbestos. So, I always assume the worst until proven otherwise. The only way to know for sure is to take samples and have them tested in a lab.

Asbestos Insulation Board or AIB as it is commonly known is a high grade highly friable material which can contain as high as 80% Asbestos fibre content.

As a product it was used in many applications around a standard home, the most common 4 being

• Garage ceilings
• Boiler cupboards/Electrical cupboards
• Riser panels – Typically used to conceal internal pipework or waste pipes.
• Soffits

Asbestos Insulation Board is a licensed and notifiable product.

This means it must be removed by a company who has been granted a license by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). At Blue A we have the maximum 3-year license issued.

It also means that the work must be notified to the HSE a minimum of 14 days prior to the work starting.

Due to the high-grade and highly friable nature of Asbestos Insulation Board, extensive documentation and a very detailed plan of work must be produced before any removal takes place. Once this documentation is prepared, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) requires notification 14 days prior to the project's start to allow them time to inspect our work. Given that we conduct these activities regularly, we frequently receive unannounced visits from HSE officers throughout the year. Overall, these inspections are beneficial as they help us maintain a high standard of work.

Regarding the paperwork, even for one-day projects, we can easily produce 20-30 pages of bespoke documentation. This thorough documentation is crucial in ensuring we consistently uphold high standards in our work.

Enclosure Setup: Asbestos Insulation Board must be removed under fully controlled conditions. A bespoke airtight enclosure will be built surrounding the Asbestos to be removed.

The enclosure will be built using a combination of 2x2 timber, 1000-gauge polythene, corex, cloth tape and spray tac.

The enclosure will cover any porous or hard to clean areas, this includes carpets, home appliances and radiators to name a few.

Any windows, vents or doorways which can provide access to atmosphere will also be covered.

Asbestos Insulation Board must be removed under fully controlled conditions. A bespoke airtight enclosure will be built surrounding the Asbestos to be removed.

The enclosure will be built using a combination of 2x2 timber, 1000-gauge polythene, corex, cloth tape and spray tac.

The enclosure will cover any porous or hard to clean areas, this includes carpets, home appliances and radiators to name a few.

Any windows, vents or doorways which can provide access to atmosphere will also be covered.

Airlocks are attached to the enclosure for a couple of reasons. Firstly, they allow for only one way air movement locking the potential asbestos particles within the enclosure. Secondly together with the negative pressure unit the airlock system creates a narrower enclosure opening that increases airflow and pushes particles to travel away from the entrance and into the enclosure towards the negative pressure unit.

This industrial-sized ventilator with high-efficiency filters creates a negative pressure environment, sucking air from the enclosure and ventilating it outside to atmosphere. This keeps the air inside the enclosure dust-free within seconds further reducing likelihood of exposure.

A Decontamination unit must be present on every licensed removal project.

This is essentially a 3-stage shower unit. It is utilised before and after the team have been in the working enclosure.

Before entering the enclosure, the team enter the unit and change from their clothing into 2 pairs of disposal overalls, they also put on washable transit shoes and there full-face respirator.

Once the team come out of the enclosure, they dispose the overalls and use the shower within the unit before putting their clothes back on.

Our employees work with dangerous materials every day, and our main priority is to make their working conditions as safe as possible. The control methods we implement, such as utilizing negative pressure units and airlocks, ensure that we are reducing the risk of exposure to both you and our workers. These measures significantly reduce the chances of asbestos spread and potential exposure.

We are not in a business of trading our employees’ health for money. Thanks to these control measures, our teams have better working air quality than any other trade in the construction industry. This is why we can proudly call ourselves professionals.

How the Asbestos Insulation Board has been fixed dictates the removal process.

Screws – The panel will be unscrewed whilst shadow vacuuming with a H-Type vacuum. Please see cleaning of the enclosure for an explanation of what a H-Type vacuum is.

Nailed or glued – The panel will be saturated with a wet strip solution. Saturating the board helps to reduce the spread of Asbestos fibre. The panels are then prised away from the nails and removed as whole as possible.

Following the removal of the Asbestos Insulation Boards, any exposed timbers will be cleaned with handheld abrasive tools to remove any potential contaminant and/or scarring.

The fixing hole were the nail or screw had gone into the wood will then be drilled out using an oversized drill bit to remove any potential debris from within the wood.

If the Asbestos has been attached to metal, this is nonporous and can be cleaned using H-type vacuums and rags.

H-Type vacuums also known as HEPA vacuums or high efficiency particulate air vacuums.

These hoovers are industry standard and are designed via internal filters to capture 99.97% of particulate fibre matter.

All high-level edges and surfaces are hoovered with H-Type vacuums.

All the polythene is hoovered and wiped down with wet rags.

The enclosure is cleaned in a top to bottom method.

Once all the polythene has been hoovered and wiped it is removed and placed into Asbestos bags.

The floor of the enclosure is then given one final hoover.

The negative pressure units run through the entire removal and cleaning processes of the work. This ensures that the airborne fibre levels are full controlled.

It is important to note that our cleaning does not only deal with airborne Asbestos fibres but also other fibres which are regularly in the air such as carpet fibre of fibreglass. This means that when we hand back an area it is a dust free condition.

All waste is double bagged in Red and clear Asbestos bags. The bags are sealed using 3-inch cloth tape.

All waste is disposed of at a registered Asbestos landfill. On completion of the work, you will be given a copy of a waste consignment note which is your legal document to show that the Asbestos has been disposed of correctly.

The correct disposal of the Asbestos waste at landfill covers a large portion of the cost of the job. Unfortunately, the rise in landfill prices has led to more fly tipping of Asbestos waste, this is why it is important that you use a company with a waste carriers license who issue a waste consignment note on completion of the work.

Each individual waste consignment note has a unique number that you can easily check to ensure your waste reached the landfill.

Due to the high-grade nature of Asbestos Insulation Board, the work must be signed off by an independent analytical contractor.

This is done via what is known as a 4-stage certificate of reoccupation.

As the name suggests this service consists of 4 stages.

Stage 1 – The analyst checks that there is a site-specific plan of work on site and that the required notification has been issued.

Stage 2 – The analyst performs a visual inspection of the enclosure.

Stage 3 – This stage is an air test carried out within the enclosure. This will measure the level of airborne fibre within the enclosure after removal is completed.

Stage 4 – Once stage 3 has passed and it has been confirmed that the airborne fibre levels are safe the enclosure can be taken down. Once down the analyst has a final look at the completed work before signing the area of as safe for reoccupation.

We can also arrange for air testing to be carried out during the removal process in other areas of the property if required. This can help us to monitor if our working methods are suitable.

Garage ceiling

We have our own reinstatement team and even if we can’t do something inhouse we have close working relationships with several sub-contractors and can arrange for the reinstatement of plasterboard ceilings, skimming of walls and/or ceilings, first phase decoration of new ceilings, electrical installations and various other carpentry works.

Getting a quotation: As this type of work requires a bespoke enclosure for every project one of our project management team will need to attend the property in order to provide a formal quotation.

Desktop estimates: With still improving quality of the pictures and videos we can often provide a ballpark estimate for the removal cost if the following details are provided:

• Asbestos survey or sample certificate which has positively identified the ceiling as containing Asbestos. – you don’t want to waste money in case this is actually a non-asbestos product or a lower grade Asbestos product.
• Floor plan – If the works are within the property, this will allow us to look at how and where we would build the required enclosure.
• Photographs and measurements of the area which needs to be removed as well as the surrounding area. This will include photos of the room in which the removal is taking place and possibly any rooms which adjoin it.
• Parking space for Decontamination Unit and out van
• Power, water supply

Alternatively, we could arrange a video/zoom call with yourself and one of our managers and all of the above information can be confirmed this way.