Asbestos in pre-2000 homes
Textured coating remains only inside a cupboard, and the ceilings have been overboarded. What has overboarding not tested?
Not a test of the coating: overboarding the ceilings has not tested the textured coating left inside the cupboard, or whatever the new boards now hide. A board fixed over a ceiling covers a surface. It does not sample it, and it does not sample the coating that remains in the cupboard. HSE says asbestos can occur in buildings built or refurbished before 2000, including textured coatings. The home survey records what it could see. Overboarding is not an analysis.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Buyers treat a smooth new ceiling as proof the old coating has been dealt with. The opposite can be true: the old coating may still be above the boards, unseen, and a patch can remain inside a cupboard that was awkward to board. Neither the boards nor the leftover patch have been tested by the fact of the work. The surveyor can say where texture is still visible and that the ceilings are overboarded. Those are visual notes. They are not laboratory results.
Do not drill the cupboard coating, and do not drill through the new boards, to 'check'. That is the disturbance HSE warns against. If you need to know what the material is, ask someone competent to advise on identification without a casual scrape. Tell them both locations: the cupboard that still shows texture, and the ceilings that have been boarded over. The survey has not cleared either of them by describing the boards.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Where is textured coating still visible, as against only boarded over?
- Did overboarding include any test, or only a new surface?
- What should not be drilled to see what is behind the boards?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the cupboard coating and the boarded ceilings as untested.
- Do not drill or scrape either surface to find out.
- Ask a competent person about identification before any work.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the cupboard coating is intact, has it been cleared?
No. Intact means it has not been broken up in front of you. It does not mean the coating has been tested, in the cupboard or above the boards.
Does painting the boards count as a test of the ceiling?
No. Paint on new boards is decoration. It does not test a coating the boards are hiding, or the texture left in the cupboard.