The plasterers were taking the bumps off the artex on the downstairs ceilings – none of us knew it was a potential risk. We stopped all work, took a sample from each room (they could have been done at different times) and luckily the artex all came up negative.
If you are unlucky enough to have asbstesos in artex I would either leave it alone or shop around for a specialist to remove it. The company that did the testing quoted me £3k to remove two walls of white asbstesos sheet.
I thought that was excessive for one days work and were relying on the ‘fear factor’. I found another company, used by local authority, at £1300. They turned up with all the gear and included an independent air test at the end.
At the other end of the scale I got a quote for £500 for the same work, and just had the feeling it the sheets might end up getting dumped in a back street somewhere.