Posted By Ian P The asbestos regulations I know of are workplace, which I suppose it is for the repairers but if your insurers are involved they will be the ones calling the shots. I do doubt very much if asbestos boards can be repaired if they are broken, removal or encapsulation are the only things I have come across in my admittedly limited experience of the stuff

Posted By RP I am sure that I read somewhere that the artex coatings are not considered as containing significant amounts of asbestos. Worth giving HSE a ring, perhaps it was in construction news

Posted By gham Of course they would say you need to change the lot, it's an insurance job that how it works £££££££

Posted By Stephen R Robinson Darren, I'm an Asbestos Consultant and we have several Insurance companies for clients and come across this work all the time. There are a few points I can give you: 1. I can reassure you that the Asbestos risk to you and your family is minimal. 2. following water damage our clients always remove the ceiling is a whole. The reason for this is that if you only remove the damaged section, the ceiling looks repaired or patchy. For the sake of the job it is better to remove the whole ceiling and get a new one in. (From your description, it sounds like the artex is to plasterboard panels, this makes for very easy removal.) 3. do not worry about your possessions, the Insurance Company will ensure they are looked after. You dhould not be doing any lifting or moving yourself. The loft will be sheeted out above the ceiling to be removed only, so no need to empty the loft, the contractors doing the work will simply move stuff around. Bedroom furniture will be removed by the contractors prior to work starting or put into storage for the day by the Insurance Company if there is not enough room to move the furniture into. Your wardrobe will be protected using cordex or hardboard. If you want though, take pictures of everything before work starts as evidence of damage if anything occurs. 4. Although the notification period is 2 weeks, the ceiling removal will take one day only with the new ceiling going in the following day. 5. You can get your own builder to overboard the Artex if you wish, this is cheaper and can be discussed with the insurance company. 6. You can get your own builder to repair the damage if he is willing, but you should make him aware of the Asbestos. 7. Artex may be removed from the licensing regs in the future, but that is still a way off as things stand at the moment. As a tennant you would not notice any difference to be honest. Hope this helps.

Posted By MarkJAWatkins Hello, I sometimes laugh at the previous comments on threads such as this. Everybody has the same ideas in general but they are worded so differently you think they are conflicting!! Now it is my turn. As previous statements say; Work with textured coating DOES need to be carried out by a licensed contractor. The problem that you have with encaspsulating the ceiling with a board of whatever to form a new ceiling is that you will have to fix batons to the existing ceiling to fix the boards to. This must be carried out by a licensed contractor - bearing in mind that until the regs change we still need to adhere to them. Hope you get on alright, Mark

Posted By Stuart Nagle Darren The ceiling can be patch repaired for much less cost if you can get your insurers to agree... Local repairs to the damaged section with plasterboard to match existing and tape all joints. this will only ,involve minor trimming of the existing ceiling structure and does not require a licenced asbestos removal contractor, only sensible safety precautions by a contractor. Get plasterer to re-plaster the whole ceiling - over the exiting artex, thus encapsulating it, apply new textured surface if desired, decorate when dry. This is a legitimate and cost effective repair method often employed to repair damaged ceilings and do away with unsightly/ugly or just plain disliked textured ceilings in many buldings, particularly after a leaking roof has caused damage. I'm sure your insurance company's surveyor would be pleased to discuss this method, thus ensuring you get what you want as the client, and the insurance company saves costs on the reinstatement of the ceiling. Regards... Stuart