Hi, I'm a total newbie to any DIY or home improvements at all, but have just become the owner of my little dream home which is in need of some updates.
There's just one dark cloud on the sky: Asbestos in the ceilings and floor tiles. I knew this when purchasing the place though, and despite winding myself up at times by Googling scary articles, I'm mostly comfortable with it, having done both a management survey and a satisfactory air test telling me the risk is "very low".
But for that extra peace of mind (call me paranoid if you want to), I would like to have some extra layer put onto those scary popcorn ceilings, and was wondering if anyone here could give some advice or thoughts on what the best/safest solution?
My two alternatives now seem to be:
1) Use this "et150" paint that is supposed to give a rubber-like coating ( http://www.thermac.com/product/et-150/ ). I have actually gotten some quotes from asbestos removal companies for doing this work. They're all around £1000 which seems a bit high to me for basically just painting the ceilings of a 60m^2 property, assuming of course there isn't something special with this sealant that would make it advisable to have a licensed asbestos contractor do it rather than just an experienced painter... or even myself trying to get some experience in painting :)
2) Get the thing plastered over first, then paint the nicer-looking flat ceiling. Any downsides to this, anyone could think of? (except for the obvious one that you'll need to be really careful not to accidentally scrape the original coating when applying the plaster). I have already heard that the extra weight of the plaster could be a problem actually making the ceiling more likely to crumble... is this actually the case?
Or perhaps a combination of both? As in skim *and* use the encapsulant rather than regular paint. Even though that sounds way overkill...
Any helpful advice much appreciated!
