THERE are plenty of videos on the internet of lucky people pulling back their grubby old carpets to reveal jaw-dropping parquet or tiles underneath.
If you’ve got carpets that are more dated than dazzling, it can be tempting to pull them up in the hopes they’re concealing a treasure.
One TikTok user did just that, but was horrified by what she found.
The TikTokker, named Holli, posted a video to her account, captioned “Mate, thing of nightmares, honestly.”
In the video, she can be seen pulling back her old, red carpets to see what lay underneath.
She wrote: “When you were hoping to find gorgeous parquet or tiles but instead you find..”
Instead of the dreamy antique flooring she’d been hoping for, Holli revealed some mysterious dark tiling, which had been chipped to reveal a strange white, powdery centre.
The horrified homeowner claimed she’d stumbled upon “asbestos tiles,” a mineral that can have seriously negative consequences on your health.
Asbestos and the risks
Asbestos was once a popular building material, used widely in homes across the nation between the 1930s and 1970s.
It was commonly used in popcorn ceilings, vinyl floor tiles, drywall and insulation of pipes and attics.
In the 1980s the UK introduced regulations against the use of some asbestos, although its use remained legal until 1999.
Experts at Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety, warn: “When materials that contain asbestos are disturbed or damaged, fibres are released into the air. When these fibres are inhaled they can cause serious diseases. These diseases will not affect you immediately; they often take a long time to develop, but once diagnosed, it is often too late to do anything.”
Some of the diseases they warn asbestos can cause, include:
- Mesothelioma, a cancer which affects the lining of the lungs and the lining surrounding the lower digestive tract.
- Asbestos-related lung cancer.
- Asbestosis, a serious scarring condition of the lung.
- Pleural thickening, which thickens and swells the lining of the lung.
In the comment section, she revealed to viewers that she’d sent the tiles off for testing, to find out if she was at risk.
To her shock, the results came back confirming that the tiles contained 10% asbestos, which left Holli double bagging and disposing of the lot.
Holli had hoped to install underfloor heating throughout her kitchen, which meant she needed to safely get rid of all the dangerous tiling she’d found.
Concerned homeowners shared their experiences of finding asbestos.[/caption]
Shocked viewers react
Viewers flooded the comments with opinions and advice.
“Asbestos flooring, yikes,” squirmed one person.
“Been there. It sucks,” said another who was able to empathise.
“The worst,” groaned another.
“Run,” simply warned someone else.
“That tile is exposed, you need to get that sorted ASAP,” another user chimed in.
But not everybody shared the panic.
“The way I’d tile over and pretend I never seen them,” quipped one person.
“As long as they’re covered they’re harmless… Just don’t drill them or break them up yourself,” another advised.
“I took all mine up, just try not to break them when removing them and they fine, I triple bagged them up and took them to a licensed place,” reassured another.
