# Forum Home Renovation Asbestos  asbestos in eaves?

## henry7

Hi, 
Does this eaves lining look like it may contain asbestos?
on some sections, it appears that someone has drilled holes ( or maybe they were made that way?) for ventilation.  
I'm not sure when the house was built.
What do you guys think?

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## Smurf

It could well be asbestos but it's hard to tell from the photo.  
If it is "fibro" and the house was built prior to the early 1980's then it is almost certainly asbestos. But I'd extend that date to anything pre-1990 if you want to be sure since fibro doesn't deteriorate in storage so there would have been old stock still being used from time to time for some years after production stopped using asbestos.

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## PhilT2

I've seen this identical pattern on a few homes before, can;t say for sure about your house but all the others were asbestos.

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## Draffa

The holes are for ventilation and drainage (incase your gutters overflow into your roofspace, for example).  As said above, if it's an older house, it's probably asbestos.  Not dangerous if you leave it alone, but can be removed if you're not comfortable with it (I'm removing asbestos in my house because I'm renovating anyway).

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## jago

:What he said:

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## Bloss

As has been said - pre 1985, and to be safe pre-1990, all houses houses should be assumed to have asbestos in eaves linings, wet areas and other places. Holes are irrelevant so far as asbestos or not - as said ventilation only. Read the stickies and you'll be fine. Asbestos cement products are stable unless drilled, sanded or otherwise disturbed to create dust. And the safety rules should be applied to anything you do that will create a dust!  But the presence of asbestos sheeting has no real impact - best to know it's there and to know what are the issues in handling it (what to do to drill a hole or remove it for example), but otherwise like the rest of your house it just sits there doing its job.

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## DIY inept

We were told that any holes need to be sealed to avoid fibres escaping and becoming airbourne.  You have the potential for fibre release from water (or air) decaying the holes further.
We are currently getting all the Asbestos removed from the house and the plumber offered to remove the downpipes for the Removalist - he said "No way mate, removing the screws in the brackets can potentially release fibres"
Basically our house becomes an exclusion zone with barriers put up around it and men walking around in white moon suits.  One neighbours house is just within the 10m exclusion zone and Asbestos man is sealing up their windows for the duration. 
When we first bought the house and had the house inspected by 2 Asbestos removalists they said to seal any edges of Fibro that weren't designed to be exposed.  The previous tenant had drilled holes in the wall of bathroom and laundry that - even though the fibres were probably long gone - recommended resealing just incase the fibre deteriorated more (or was knocked) and released more fibres. 
Also, a laymans test for Fibro is to hit a 20c coin against it.  It sounds metallic/glass like compared to normal plasterboard.  Not a scientific method but something you can try..... 
On the plus side - we paid $40K under what house should have been worth because no-one wants a Fibro house and removing Fibro is costing a lot less than that.  Our house is technically 'safe' except holes in Laundry and Bathroom but with a move to make all Asbestos notifiable at house sale time and the fact Asbestos is bad we decided to get it all removed. 
Don't mean to scare-monger but there is no-one out there that reckons Asbestos is good.

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## Bloss

> Also, a laymans test for Fibro is to hit a 20c coin against it.  It sounds metallic/glass like compared to normal plasterboard.  Not a scientific method but something you can try.....  
> Don't mean to scare-monger but there is no-one out there that reckons Asbestos is good.

  Yep not a scientific method and absolutely useless - it will tell you nothing so don't bother.  :Rolleyes:  
So don't scare monger. . .   :Rolleyes:   Not saying it's good, but just keep risks in some perspective. You chose to buy a house as a good deal and the full removal which is likely to raise dust etc is why the precautions are take at the level you see with tyvek suits and so on. All of which is standard practice if you are doing anything that disturbs the asbestos - but totally irrelevant for sheeting that is simply sitting in place. As to filling holes because fibres might come out and so on - humbug! There is plenty of accurate info in the stickies - read it and once again 'don't panic!"  :2thumbsup:   :Wink:

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## DIY inept

:Sneaktongue:  I did say the coin method wasn't scientific but I definitely noticed a difference in one wall than is clad one side with Asbestos and the other plasterboard. 
I think you have to be careful about perspectives as cigarette companies used that argument a couple of decades ago.... Though I agree from research I've done that I'm satisfied that undisturbed Asbestos is safe if left undisturbed.  I don't walk around every day with a moon suit on (besides - it'd be a pain trying to go to the toilet in my Asbestos lined bathroom with one on)  :Blush7:

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## Bloss

> I did say the coin method wasn't scientific but I definitely noticed a difference in one wall than is clad one side with Asbestos and the other plasterboard.

  Tapping even with your hand might tell you that one is a compressed fibre sheet vs plaster (if you already know what the different sounds mean) as will trying to create a dent with a thumbnail (fibro no, plasterboard yes), it won't tell you whether the fibro sheet contains asbestos at all.  :Frown:  
Read my posts - I am clearly not suggesting no danger so  :Mad:  about a possible comparison to the tobacco industry - or for that matter Hardies & others in the asbestos industry who lied for more than 50 years (like tobacco industry which still does!). But humans are poor judges of risk - so stickies have the facts. ALL dusts are bad for humans - proper prevention to stop one will prevent all - so prevent all.  :Wink:   :2thumbsup:

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## Artiglass

My husband thinks our asbestos is "safe"  as its painted. I told him..Yes, its painted......on one side only. The other side inside the ceiling space is raw unpainted and dust up in the roof space travels around in there. My guess is its not safe and at some point I will have it removed and replaced with something safer   :Cry:

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## Bloss

> My husband thinks our asbestos is "safe"  as its painted. I told him..Yes, its painted......on one side only. The other side inside the ceiling space is raw unpainted and dust up in the roof space travels around in there. My guess is its not safe and at some point I will have it removed and replaced with something safer

  Karen - your husband is correct. The asbestos sheeting is 'bound' asbestos and although one side is not painted or 'raw' as you call it, it will not release dust - any dust on that side will be whatever falls onto it from what is blown into the ceiling space over time (which happens to every roof) - not asbestos containing dust. 
The risk arises if you use any mechanical means to create dust - and that applies whether painted or unpainted. 
So sure,  remove & replace if you really want to, but the risk from leaving it in situ is about as small as can be. The risk of injury from climbing the ladder and doing work involved in removing it (for whoever does it) is vastly more than from the sheets themselves even if they used no safety masks etc - and they will.

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## Artiglass

Thanks heaps Bloss  :Smilie:    That make a whole lot of sense  :Smilie:

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