asbestos eaves

T

tinaandalex

Dear all

We've been receiving great supports from this forum in an early stage of our house hunting, thank you all for that.
Now there's a property that we are interested in. It's a 35-40 years old BV house. We received a building report which indicates asbestos in the eaves as follows

'Eaves
450mm fibrocement sheet lined. Hardie Plank infills to extension require resetting. Southwest bedroom sheet fractured. Chipboard west intersection decomposing requires maintenance.'

It sounds scary to have asbestos in the house but we're not professional.
We would appreciate your advice here please.

Regards
tinaandalex
 
I would think that trying to find an older house without asbestos would prove difficult in many places. If it is in good condition, and you don't mess with it, then it would not stop me buying. Every IP we have ever had, and every PPOR has had asbestos somewhere.

Just don't drill it, smash it and if you are renovating, get proper advice about removing it.
 
Thanks for that Wylie, we feel better now.
But as per the report, there's a fractured sheet that need to be fixed. We wonder if it may involves large cost compared to asbestos free sheet.
 
It might not even be asbestos, you need a small section to send it off to a lab to have it checked out.

The cost of removal depends on the quantity it will be anywhere between $1000 - $10,000. $1000 for a small load and 10k for pretty much large sections of the whole house.

Most older homes will have asbestos this is just a fact of life.

If its asbestos and the sheeting is broken and this concerns you and want it fixed the only solution is to remove it. You wont find (knowing) trades to come and fix a sheet it basically has to be removed.

Simply call an asbestos removal company and get a quote, the lab test takes about 1 week or 2.

You can also try your luck and look behind the sheeting many times hardie printed "MANUFACTURED WITHOUT ASBESTOS" behind their sheets.

Good luck

tinaandalex said:
Thanks for that Wylie, we feel better now.
But as per the report, there's a fractured sheet that need to be fixed. We wonder if it may involves large cost compared to asbestos free sheet.
Click to expand...
 
wylie said:
I would think that trying to find an older house without asbestos would prove difficult in many places. If it is in good condition, and you don't mess with it, then it would not stop me buying. Every IP we have ever had, and every PPOR has had asbestos somewhere.

Just don't drill it, smash it and if you are renovating, get proper advice about removing it.
Click to expand...

Yeap! It is every where, if it was a roof made of the stuff I would probably say steer clear I looked at a place last year that had an asbestos roof and got some quotes. To remove and replace with cb, a small 12 sq home was going to be $30K!

Like Wylie most of my IP's have had asbestos, on the day of settlement the asbestos is removed by prof. I just recently paid $2K for 100sqm removed if that gives you an idea. You can get DIY kits but that's not for me.

** If you buy - It could work in our favor, have it removed get an electrician in and have down-lights installed in eaves and get new cement sheet installed and it will look awesome!!
 
My experiance could tell you that hardie's produced a villaboard type of sheet that contained only 10% asbestos, the options are to mix H2o and PVC glue together in a spray pak, (small ones that one does weeds with) spray the surfaces and let it dry , then remove wear a mask and wrap it up in plastic, this is safe practice.

living in canberra we have minimal trains , but i could only imagine the amt of asbestos lying around the stations , having all of those brake linings being applied every day for almost 80 years in some cases ????
 
Thanks all for your valuable advice.
WUnderbar you red our mind .... is it worth it? But at least we're not freaking out any more. It seems not unusual to have osbestos somewhere in a 30-40 years old house.
We wud probably go around and talk to a few locals to see how common it is to have asbestos eaves with houses of this age... and we'll make a call by then :).
with thanks
tinaandalex
 
If I was keen on the property I would put in an offer subject to the asbestos either being removed or repaired.
Figure on about $25-35sqM for removal.

Andy
 
As others have said, its nigh impossible to buy a pre 80's house (and many 80's houses) without some form of asbestos in the eaves or facias/soffits or garage etc. It was such a prolific building material that is is everywhere.

Contrary to media hype, it wont crawl down off the roof and slaughter you in your sleep, or wring the necks of newborn kittens. If you know it is there and treat it with the correct procedures then it is relatively OK.

If you have a fractured board, then as others have said, get it removed and replaced by a certified asbestos treatment company. Replace that board with a new material, seal and paint it. You dont have to rip off all your eaves.
 
what is the nature of the fracture? does the sheet really have to come out? surely it can be repaired, or another solution found.

anyhow as everyone has said, asbestos removal is a pricey business - ive seen quotes of $20 000 to remove a boundary fence (strangely enough, that evening, a gang of thieves broke into the property and actually stole the fence right off the posts. no one knows where it is, but somewhere, some thief has black lung) - avoid it if you can imo. Id even be tempted to attach a newer product directly onto the fractured sheet and leave the asbestos where it is.
 
I suggest you simply call an asbestos removal company and arrange it via them that way you can also get a quote on its removal should it be asbestos.

I have used;

http://www.queenslandlab.com/

and for removal;

http://www.shawcorp.com.au/index.html

I personally wouldnt use the bunnings kits as suggested. If you speak to any trady\builder most will claim asbestos is a little overrated and everything on a job site kills you, concrete dust, treated pine sawdust etc... I am of the view I dont want to touch the crap and prefer to pay for others to remove it.

Further more having it removed properly then allows you to get a clearance certificate to show others no asbestos is present, perhaps a good sales helper if your going down that path.

Either way good luck.



NSWinvester said:
Where can I send it to get it tested and how much dos it cost?
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