I have found asbestos on my property, what now?

Quite often in the Painting and general maintenance field of work we come across Asbestos on a property we are working on. According to the cancer council the definition of“Asbestos is the name used for a group of naturally occurring minerals. They have resistance to high temperatures and fire and make effective insulators and so were popular in building products in Australia from the 1940s to 1987. Asbestos-containing materials include:

• flat and corrugated sheeting
• cement pipes
• insulation
• floor tiles
• adhesives
• roofing
• automobile parts such as brake pads
• textiles
• textured paints

Australia was one of the highest users of asbestos per capita. Products containing asbestos were phased out during the 1980s, a national ban on asbestos, its importation and all products containing asbestos came into effect at the end of 2003”

What does this mean for you? That more than likely unless your property was built after 2003 there is a chance you could have asbestos containing material used on your property. This does not need to ring alarm bells to check your entire property to remove all areas you think contain it as it is something that needs to be analysed by a laboratory to confirm and quite costly. The issue lies when someone works around or with the area such as renovations and demolishing as the tiny fibres can get into the air and pose a risk. For many reasons people may choose to hire a professional asbestos removal company to get rid of this especially when removing walls or demolishing areas, however, a more cost effective option and something for when it is not possible to remove the asbestos in particular situations can be asbestos encapsulation by applying a sealant membrane. Benefiting your budget and lowering disturbance to your home or workplace but a specialized service that most definitely has to be suitable. The encapsulation is also not a one time fix and will need to have a management plan in place to ensure the area is covered after exposure to UV etc.

We offer this service at Allpro Paint Systems and will be happy to help discuss with you the suitability of this for your particular situation. Feel free to give us a call or submit a request through our contact form.

Please see links below to help inform yourself on asbestos and removal.

http://www.asbestos.vic.gov.au/

https://www.cancer.org.au/preventing-cancer/workplace-cancer/asbestos.html