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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
Some of you may recall my previous posts about our very odd 1930s house
(back wall subsiding, damp, internal walls made of 2" thick block laid directly on floorboards, lots of other interesting features). Well, today we came across a particularly interesting feature which I'd like to share with you. To recap, the house is roughly square. As you come in the front door, which is in the middle of the house wall, you see the stairs. So the stairs run down the middle of the house, with rooms either side both downstairs and upstairs. We're currently working on bedroom no.1, which is the room on the right as you go up the stairs. We've finished bedroom no.2, which is the one on the left. Both of these rooms have walls which form the stair well. But bedroom no.1 also has the wall which forms the end of the stair well - the wall which you might bump your head on going up the stairs. In bedroom no.2, the wall which forms part of the stair well is made of the lovely 2" black blocks mentioned earlier, laid directly onto the floor boards. Nothing unusual about that (for this house, at any rate). But in bedroom no.1, the equivalent wall, and the wall which forms the end of the stair well are made of T&G, lined on the inside (i.e. inside the room) with 1/8" hardboard (yes, that's right). Today's job was to remove these walls. Having removed the hardboard, we found that the wall which is part of the stair well is lined with asbestos sheets! Four sheets of 4'x2'x5mm of grey asbestos sheet, very hard amd brittle. I thought that was a bit odd, given the age of the house, and given that it looks like an original feature. I thought asbestos was only used after the 40s. But even more interesting - the other wall, the one forming the end of the stair well - wasn't lined with the same sheets. Instead, it's lined with 1/2" fibre board (like MDF but very low density). Why would they do that? Why would anyone go to the trouble of lining one wall with asbestos sheet, but line the adjacent wall with fibre board (which is useless when it comes to fire resistance)? Any thoughts/experiences/wisdom? -- Grunff |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
Grunff wrote in message ...
Why would they do that? Why would anyone go to the trouble of lining one wall with asbestos sheet, but line the adjacent wall with fibre board (which is useless when it comes to fire resistance)? Any thoughts/experiences/wisdom? Not really. Asbestos was used in Victorian times though, asbestos fluff was the standard incandescent stuff in gas fires before ceramic knobbly plates took over. I guess the real question is what to do about it. Regards, NT |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
"N. Thornton" wrote in message m... Grunff wrote in message ... Why would they do that? Why would anyone go to the trouble of lining one wall with asbestos sheet, but line the adjacent wall with fibre board (which is useless when it comes to fire resistance)? Any thoughts/experiences/wisdom? Not really. Asbestos was used in Victorian times though damn stuff was used till 19veryrecently in Artex and as plain boards - inspector who found ours pulled out fibres of it and held it very close to his face/nose & proceeded to explain how expensive it's going to be to remove this deadly stuff. |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
"Steve" wrote in message ... Chris Oates wrote: damn stuff was used till 19veryrecently in Artex and as plain boards - inspector who found ours pulled out fibres of it and held it very close to his face/nose & proceeded to explain how expensive it's going to be to remove this deadly stuff. There's no clinching evidence that WHITE asbestos is a problem - the blue and brown forms are a different matter. I didn't imply enough sarcasm Insurance companies and the HSE think the stuff is worse than Ebola virus.... the inspector obviously knew the score |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
N. Thornton wrote:
I guess the real question is what to do about it. Not really - it's nowhere near as scary as it's made out to be. In reality, risks only result from prolonged exposure. Before anyone invokes the "one fibre" theory, find some studies which support it. As for disposal: http://www.oxford.gov.uk/oxford%5Cservices.nsf/Public/AllServices/E1F036E230FE0B0C80256A310051B471?OpenDocument http://www.allerdale.gov.uk/show.asp?PageID=149 http://www.alnwick.gov.uk/alnwick/council.nsf/pages/Asbestos122231.html?OpenDocument&Start=1&Count=100 0&ExpandView (many more available, just google) -- Grunff |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
Grunff wrote:
Some of you may recall my previous posts about our very odd 1930s house (back wall subsiding, damp, internal walls made of 2" thick block laid directly on floorboards, lots of other interesting features). Well, today we came across a particularly interesting feature which I'd like to share with you. To recap, the house is roughly square. As you come in the front door, which is in the middle of the house wall, you see the stairs. So the stairs run down the middle of the house, with rooms either side both downstairs and upstairs. We're currently working on bedroom no.1, which is the room on the right as you go up the stairs. We've finished bedroom no.2, which is the one on the left. Both of these rooms have walls which form the stair well. But bedroom no.1 also has the wall which forms the end of the stair well - the wall which you might bump your head on going up the stairs. In bedroom no.2, the wall which forms part of the stair well is made of the lovely 2" black blocks mentioned earlier, laid directly onto the floor boards. Nothing unusual about that (for this house, at any rate). But in bedroom no.1, the equivalent wall, and the wall which forms the end of the stair well are made of T&G, lined on the inside (i.e. inside the room) with 1/8" hardboard (yes, that's right). Today's job was to remove these walls. Having removed the hardboard, we found that the wall which is part of the stair well is lined with asbestos sheets! Four sheets of 4'x2'x5mm of grey asbestos sheet, very hard amd brittle. I thought that was a bit odd, given the age of the house, and given that it looks like an original feature. I thought asbestos was only used after the 40s. But even more interesting - the other wall, the one forming the end of the stair well - wasn't lined with the same sheets. Instead, it's lined with 1/2" fibre board (like MDF but very low density). Why would they do that? Why would anyone go to the trouble of lining one wall with asbestos sheet, but line the adjacent wall with fibre board (which is useless when it comes to fire resistance)? Because that is what they got cheap. In those days, D-I-Y on a house of this value was domne on an absolute shoestring, usually to remodel a new room for yet another mewling puking brat. If someone had a couple of sheets of this or that left over going cheap, you used it. The 50's were very limited times financially. Any thoughts/experiences/wisdom? |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Because that is what they got cheap. Well, yeah, I get your meaning, but surely the fibre board was *loads* cheaper than the asbestos sheet (as well as being easier to work). What I don't get is the juxtaposition of the two materials, when the use of fibreboard on one of the walls completely nullifies any benefit the asbestos might have provided. -- Grunff |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
Chris Oates wrote:
damn stuff was used till 19veryrecently in Artex and as plain boards - inspector who found ours pulled out fibres of it and held it very close to his face/nose & proceeded to explain how expensive it's going to be to remove this deadly stuff. There's no clinching evidence that WHITE asbestos is a problem - the blue and brown forms are a different matter. Steve |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message ... The 50's were very limited times financially. you're not kidding ! I got sent next door to watch black & white TV Our weekly bath was in something that got lowered from the ceiling. The 'wash' was done in a 'luxury' gas fired oil drum & was dried with the aid of a mangle Fridges only existed in America Milk came decanted from churns on a wagon drawn by horses Only the rich had a phone Ditto cars Sugar was still rationed those were the days |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 01:06:33 -0000, "Chris Oates" none wrote:
you're not kidding ! I got sent next door to watch black & white TV Our weekly bath was in something that got lowered ::Cue violins:: PoP Sending email to my published email address isn't guaranteed to reach me. |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
Chris Oates wrote:
"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message ... The 50's were very limited times financially. you're not kidding ! I got sent next door to watch black & white TV Our weekly bath was in something that got lowered from the ceiling. The 'wash' was done in a 'luxury' gas fired oil drum & was dried with the aid of a mangle Fridges only existed in America Milk came decanted from churns on a wagon drawn by horses Only the rich had a phone Ditto cars Sugar was still rationed those were the days NOT. :-) |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Grunff wrote: Some of you may recall my previous posts about our very odd 1930s house (back wall subsiding, damp, internal walls made of 2" thick block laid directly on floorboards, lots of other interesting features). Well, today we came across a particularly interesting feature which I'd like to share with you. To recap, the house is roughly square. As you come in the front door, which is in the middle of the house wall, you see the stairs. So the stairs run down the middle of the house, with rooms either side both downstairs and upstairs. We're currently working on bedroom no.1, which is the room on the right as you go up the stairs. We've finished bedroom no.2, which is the one on the left. Both of these rooms have walls which form the stair well. But bedroom no.1 also has the wall which forms the end of the stair well - the wall which you might bump your head on going up the stairs. In bedroom no.2, the wall which forms part of the stair well is made of the lovely 2" black blocks mentioned earlier, laid directly onto the floor boards. Nothing unusual about that (for this house, at any rate). But in bedroom no.1, the equivalent wall, and the wall which forms the end of the stair well are made of T&G, lined on the inside (i.e. inside the room) with 1/8" hardboard (yes, that's right). Today's job was to remove these walls. Having removed the hardboard, we found that the wall which is part of the stair well is lined with asbestos sheets! Four sheets of 4'x2'x5mm of grey asbestos sheet, very hard amd brittle. I thought that was a bit odd, given the age of the house, and given that it looks like an original feature. I thought asbestos was only used after the 40s. But even more interesting - the other wall, the one forming the end of the stair well - wasn't lined with the same sheets. Instead, it's lined with 1/2" fibre board (like MDF but very low density). Why would they do that? Why would anyone go to the trouble of lining one wall with asbestos sheet, but line the adjacent wall with fibre board (which is useless when it comes to fire resistance)? Because that is what they got cheap. In those days, D-I-Y on a house of this value was domne on an absolute shoestring, usually to remodel a new room for yet another mewling puking brat. If someone had a couple of sheets of this or that left over going cheap, you used it. The 50's were very limited times financially. Yep, the door frames in our 1950s house are metal, and all the soffits/fascias, guttering and drainage pipes are (were) asbestos. Apparently wood wasn't cheap then. But you wouldn't think it was expensive when you see the size, thickness and number of floor joists! |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
"PoP" wrote in message ... On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 01:06:33 -0000, "Chris Oates" none wrote: you're not kidding ! I got sent next door to watch black & white TV I was sent next door to listen to 78rpm records. Our weekly bath was in something that got lowered We were posh, we went to the public baths. When we wouldn't fit into the zinc bath any more. Mary |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 22:08:05 -0000, "Mary Fisher"
wrote: I was sent next door to listen to 78rpm records. Oi! If you are going to quote then please reply to the person that wrote the original article PoP Sending email to my published email address isn't guaranteed to reach me. |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
"PoP" wrote in message ... On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 22:08:05 -0000, "Mary Fisher" wrote: I was sent next door to listen to 78rpm records. Oi! If you are going to quote then please reply to the person that wrote the original article Sorry! Mary on my knees (make the most of it, it doesn't happen often!) PoP Sending email to my published email address isn't guaranteed to reach me. |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
"Mary Fisher" wrote in message ... "PoP" wrote in message ... On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 22:08:05 -0000, "Mary Fisher" wrote: I was sent next door to listen to 78rpm records. Oi! If you are going to quote then please reply to the person that wrote the original article Sorry! Mary on my knees (make the most of it, it doesn't happen often!) housemaids knee was a common problem then |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 21:14:24 -0000, "Mary Fisher"
wrote: on my knees (make the most of it, it doesn't happen often!) The mind boggles PoP Sending email to my published email address isn't guaranteed to reach me. |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
Chris Oates wrote:
"Mary Fisher" wrote in message ... "PoP" wrote in message . .. On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 22:08:05 -0000, "Mary Fisher" wrote: I was sent next door to listen to 78rpm records. Oi! If you are going to quote then please reply to the person that wrote the original article Sorry! Mary on my knees (make the most of it, it doesn't happen often!) housemaids knee was a common problem then # Still is for carpet fitters. |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 08:39:31 +0000, The Natural Philosopher
wrote: housemaids knee was a common problem then Still is for carpet fitters. I've had problems with my knees when installing loft flooring on a couple of occasions recently, I presume that is known as housemaids knee. I do find that wearing a pair of knee pads helps enormously. And for that someone unknown on this forum is due thanks - I had never tried knee pads prior to someone mentioning them here a while back, a quick visit to ebay and I had a pair to try. PoP Sending email to my published email address isn't guaranteed to reach me. |
#20
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
"Chris Oates" none wrote in message ... "Mary Fisher" wrote in message ... "PoP" wrote in message ... On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 22:08:05 -0000, "Mary Fisher" wrote: I was sent next door to listen to 78rpm records. Oi! If you are going to quote then please reply to the person that wrote the original article Sorry! Mary on my knees (make the most of it, it doesn't happen often!) housemaids knee was a common problem then I'll let you know when I have the result of the whole body scan I had on Monday. Mary |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
In message ,
Grunff wrote: Some of you may recall my previous posts about our very odd 1930s house (back wall subsiding, damp, internal walls made of 2" thick block laid directly on floorboards, lots of other interesting features). We have (ok, had) walls like that too; two partition walls upstairs built directly on the floorboards out of 3" thick "breezeblock"-type blocks (someone called them cinderblocks). These were interesting in that they had a toungue-and-groove arrangement on their narrow vertical faces! +--------+ +--------+ What counts as plaster in this 1930s council-built semi is about a half to threequarters of an inch of black coal dust capped with no more than a sixteenth of cement render. This is further coated with gorgeous Artex in much of the house (see pictures still up at http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/danygraig/ ) [...] we found that the wall which is part of the stair well is lined with asbestos sheets! Four sheets of 4'x2'x5mm of grey asbestos sheet, very hard amd brittle. I thought that was a bit odd, given the age of the house, and given that it looks like an original feature. I thought asbestos was only used after the 40s. All the ceilings in the house mentioned above are (or were) asbestos sheet. As part of the refurbishment these are going - at least in the half of the house we're doing at the moment. So you're not in an entirely unique position :-) Obviously some odd things went on in the 1930s. Like the ceiling joists upstairs (i.e. attic joists) which are on 2ft or so centres and not properly supported over their 6m span. Again, the support will be better when we've refurbished, though I'm blowed if I'm adding extra joists just to make putting a bit of board up there a bit easier. Hwyl! M. -- Martin Angove: http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/ Two free issues: http://www.livtech.co.uk/ Living With Technology .... Your cat's missing? Have you checked my bumper? |
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Interesting asbestos use in 1930s house
Martin Angove wrote:
All the ceilings in the house mentioned above are (or were) asbestos sheet. As part of the refurbishment these are going - at least in the half of the house we're doing at the moment. Wow! For the first time since buying this house I feel truly privileged - our ceilings were a mixture of lath+plaster clad over with fibreboard! -- Grunff |
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