Asbestos Contamination

MrsWhite2

Hi,

I'm doing some renovation work to an old house. The plumbers were in recently to install new bathroom. They removed the old external SVP to replace with PVC. When we had a look - a few weeks later - we thought it looked like it must be asbestos cement, having previously thought it was cast iron. I'm absolutely terrified now. We have wet and covered the remenants of the old svp pipe and are looking at how to dispose of it properly. We have been in the house however and must have been exposed to dust not to mention the plumber. I'm surprised that the plumber would not have alerted us to this. Would plumbers come across old asbestos cement pipes like this alot? Any advice appreciated, I'm extremely worried.

MrsWhite2

I can't understand how there are not public awareness campaigns/TV ads to alert people to the dangers of asbestos; the government have ads for just about everything else...

Poor Uncle Tom

If the pipe was taken out without breaking it, there is no danger. The fibers are only released from break points in the material. It is usually rendered putting the affected items on pallets and wrapping them for collection. Any asbestos renderers are listed in the golden pages. It's where I got them the last time I needed them.

MrsWhite2

Hi Uncle Tom, thanks for your advice. I have no idea how they took out the pipe, but it was broken in parts.