Asbestos in Your Home
Asbestos was thought to be a miracle product and was used in a myriad of applications. It was made into fabric for theatre curtains, fire proof gloves and aprons. It was added to paper for insulating pipes, it was sprayed “loose” into ceiling cavities as insulation.
It was even made into toilet cisterns!
The most common places that asbestos is found in Australian homes are in the form of cement sheet. They include roofing, wall cladding, meter boxes and sheets may be found behind your hot water system, your oven and your heater.
If you live in an older home you should always check carefully before you disturb building material. Even driveways may be made with asbestos “tailings” that were the by-product of the manufacturing process.
Even after many years in the business, our members tell us that they still find asbestos in places they’ve never seen it before. The products were widely available and you never know what previous occupants may have done, even if your home was built before or after it was popular as a building material.
Appendix A. Examples of Asbestos-Containing Materials from the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission Code of Practice for the Management and Control of Asbestos in Workplaces 2005 provides a comprehensive, but not exhaustive, list of known asbestos containing products.
While the majority of these apply to commercial premises (ie Workplaces), it is interesting to see the extent of its use prior to it finally being banned in Australia in 2003. The list is reproduced below.
- Air conditioning ducts: exterior or interior
- Acoustic and thermal insulation
- Arc shields in lift motor rooms
- Asbestos-based plastic products – as electrical insulates and acid-resistant compositions or aircraft seat
- Asbestos ceiling tiles
- Asbestos cement conduit
- Asbestos cement electrical fuseboards
- Asbestos cement external roofs and walls
- Asbestos cement in the use of form work when pouring concrete
- Asbestos cement internal flues and downpipes
- Asbestos cement moulded products such as gutters, ridge cappings, gas meter covers, cable troughs and covers
- Asbestos cement (underground) pits, as used for traffic control wiring, telecommunications cabling, etc
- Asbestos cement render, plaster, mortar and coursework
- Asbestos cement sheet
- Asbestos cement sheet behind ceramic tiles
- Asbestos cement sheet internal over exhaust canopies such as ovens, fume cupboards, etc
- Asbestos cement sheet internal walls and ceilings
- Asbestos cement sheet underlays for vinyl
- Asbestos cement storm drain pipes
- Asbestos cement water pipes (usually underground)
- Asbestos-containing laminates (eg formica) used where heat resistance is required, eg ships
- Asbestos-containing pegboard
- Asbestos felts
- Asbestos marine board eg marinate
- Asbestos mattresses used for covering hot equipment in power stations
- Asbestos paper used variously for insulation, filtering and production of fire resistant laminates
- Asbestos roof tiles Asbestos roof tiles
- Asbestos textiles
- Asbestos textile gussets in air-conditioning ducting systems
- Asbestos yarn
- Autoclave/steriliser insulation
- Bitumen-based water proofing such as malthoid, typically on roofs and floors, but also found in brickwork
- Bitumous adhesives and sealants
- Boiler gaskets
- Boiler insulation, slabs and wet mix
- Brake disc pads
- Brake linings
- Cable penetrations insulation bags (typically Telecom)
- Calorifier insulation
- Car body filters (not common)
- Caulking compounds, sealant and adhesives
- Cement render
- Chrysotile wicks in kerosene heaters
- Clutch faces
- Compressed asbestos cement panels for flooring, typically verandas, bathrooms and steps for demountable buildings
- Compressed Asbestos Fibres (CAF) used in brakes and gaskets for plant and automobiles
- Door seals on ovens
- Electric heatbanks – block insulation
- Electric hot water services – not normally asbestos, but some millboard may be present
- Electric light fittings, high wattage, insulation around fitting (and bituminised)
- Electrical switchboards – see Pitch-based
- Exhausts on vehicles
- Filler in acetylene gas cylinders
- Filters – beverage, wine filtration
- Fire blankets
- Fire curtains
- Fire door insulation
- Fire rated wall rendering containing asbestos with mortar
- Fire resistant plaster board, typically on ships
- Fire retardant material on steel work supporting reactors on columns in refineries in the chemical industry
- Flexible hoses
- Floor vinyl sheets
- Floor vinyl tiles
- Fuse blankets and ceramic fuses in switchboards
- Galbestos (TM) roofing materials (decorative coating on metal roof for sound proofing
- Gaskets – chemicals, refineries
- Gaskets – general
- Gauze mats in laboratories/chemical refineries
- Gloves – asbestos
- Hairdryers – insulation around heating elements
- Header (manifold) insulation
- Insulation blocks
- Insulation in electric reheat units for air-conditioner systems
- Laboratory bench tops
- Laboratory fume cabinet panels
- Laboratory ovens – wall insulation
- Lagged exhaust pipes on emergency power generators
- Lagging in penetrations in fireproof walls
- Lifts shafts – asbestos cement panels lining the shaft at the opening of each floor and asbestos packing around penetrations
- Limpet asbestos spray insulation
- Locomotives – steam; lagging on boilers, steam lines, steam dome and gaskets
- Mastics
- Millboard between heating unit and wall
- Millboard lining of switch boxes
- Mortar
- Packing materials for gauges, valves, etc., can be square packing, rope or loose fibre
- Packing material on window anchorage points in high rise buildings
- Paint, typically industrial epoxy paints
- Penetrations through concrete slabs in high rise buildings
- Pipe insulation, including molded, water mix type, rope braid and sheet
- Pitch based (e.g. zelemite, ausbestos, lebah) electrical switchboard
- Plater and plaster cornice adhesives
- Refractory linings
- Refractroy tiles
- Rubber articles – extent of usage unknown
- Sealant between floor slab and wall, usually in boilers rooms, risers and lift shafts
- Sealant or mastic on windows
- Sealant and mastics on air-conditioning ducting joints
- Spackle or plasterboard wall jointing compounds
- Sprayed insultion – acoustic wall or ceiling
- Sprayed insulation – beams and ceiling slabs
- Sprayed insulation – fire retardant sprayed on nuts internally, for bolts holding external building wall panels
- Stoves – old domestic type; wall insulation
- Tape and rope – lagging and jointing
- Tapered ends of pipe lagging, where lagging not necessarily asbestos
- Tilux sheeting in place of ceramic tiles in bathrooms
- Trailing cable under lift cabins
- Train – country – guards vans – millboard between heater and wall
- Trains – Harris cars – sprayed asbestos between steel shell and laminex
- Valve, pump, etc., insulation
- Welding rods
- Woven asbestos cable sheath