It's so exciting to see the home of your dreams coming to life before your very eyes - but one woman was left feeling grateful after a TikTok comment potentially saved her life.
TikTok user @sunnyshouses posted a video, captioning it: "Honestly I am so glad I posted that TikTok. We were literally going to rip the tiles off and the bathroom out", and in the video she was responding to a comment that was warning her about a dangerous detail.
The potentially life-saving comment read: "I believe those tiles to contain asbestos. Do not remove them without getting them tested first", they warned.
Over the top of the video, Sunny wrote that TikTok may have actually saved her life thanks to the knowledgeable people who left comments on her bathroom walkthrough.
She explained that it was her first house, and she'd never renovated before, so she just wanted to post a quick 'before' video so she could compare it to the 'after' when they'd finished all the work.
"Loads of people have commented saying I've got asbestos tiles", and she admitted that she didn't know what that meant, so she took to Google, and realised the dangers of asbestos after seeing "horror stories about people getting cancer". Initially taking it with a pinch of salt, thinking 'You know what Google's like', she said she wanted to ask her dad's property manager about it.
But he wasn't sure what they were, saying she could get it tested, but saying he'd never heard of asbestos tiles before. However, he did say that when they were getting their garage and pipes done, they realised the plumber had been drilling into asbestos. Sunny was mortified to find out that the plumber had died "of cancer", and as a result of this conversation, she was "terrified" to go back into the home she'd purchased.
It was her plan to rip out the bathroom and start again from scratch, and she said she absolutely was not going to do that now she realised the property could potentially contain asbestos. "I'm booking a survey to get it tested", she admitted, warning others of the perils.
According to Gov.uk, asbestos may be present in any house or building built before the year 2000 as it was widely used in a variety of building materials. They also warn that The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified all forms of asbestos as being carcinogenic to humans. It was banned in 1999.
In the comments of the video, one wrote: "How lucky that person commented! I don't know if you've googled and found out but asbestos fibres cause asbestosis, only a tiny amount is needed to have a serious impact." Sunny replied: "Honestly so many people did, it shows how TikTok can be a kind place where people actually look out for each other rather than some of the negativity it gets!"
If you're concerned you may have come into contact with asbestos in the past, contact your GP.
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