My wife and I were invited to a presentation by department of fair trading on "loose fill asbestos insulation".
This was used in some houses in NSW and ACT before 1981 and is now a serious problem for houses affected.
It cannot be safely removed, and the only fix is to demolish the houses.
Every house in the ACT has been tested already.
The department of fair trading has a program at the moment to test houses in identified council areas and also to buy back houses that are affected so they can be demolished.
Testing is free in those areas.
There may also be legislation passed that any house sale will need a certificate showing that there is no loose fill asbestos, so if you can have this done free at the moment, you may as well take up the offer now.
If loose fill asbestos is found, the house will be tagged in the meter box to warn people who may work on the house. You may also choose to sell the house at market value to the department of fair trading. If you are NOT part of this testing/buy back program before it finishes, you will also not have the option of selling your house as part of this program. This would mean you have a house that you cannot fix, and even demolition costs would be enormous. The site says to register by 1st of August.
I hope no one here is affected by this, but if you are, it seems like you are far better off finding out as part of this program, than finding out later on.
For further info please look at
http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/Tenants_and_home_owners/Loose_fill_asbestos_insulation.page
yes
there are houses being demolished everywhere here in Canberra - a few less them 500 metres from my own home - one three houses down - one just across from our place (in fact I was trying to buy the same house when we bought his one) - one just up the alley across the road
the seller did discount deals for neighbourhoods
I drive past around 7 of them every day on my usual run to work
they are moving quickly to knock down and rebuild
here the home owner has an obligation to contractors to inform them of the risk
we have friends who have raised their families in these houses
Quote from: 'robbiegal' pid='91599' dateline='1467067338'we have friends who have raised their families in these houses
Keep in mind that asbestos is only dangerous if it gets loose and into your lungs. Lots of people all over the country and the world grew up surrounded by the stuff with no ill effect.
We had asbestos gloves
Asbestos mats on the bunsen burners in school
Asbestos cement walls
Asbestos cement roofing
Asbestos insulation
...
And as long as it stayed where it was meant to be, all was well.
hum
which part of loose fill don't you get Fulvio?
" And as long as it stayed where it was meant to be, all was well. " - THAT IS THE PROBLEM
I have worked with several men who died from Asbestosis, a horrific way to die - because they worked in asbestos environments
the F*** stuff has NEVER been safe and the government has known all along since day dot
they have made all of us lambs the slaughter to keep big business happy and gay
(http://www.australian-coins.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10035/asbestos.jpg)
(http://www.australian-coins.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10035/asbestos_close_up.jpg)
Quote from: 'robbiegal' pid='91611' dateline='1467079631'which part of loose fill don't you get Fulvio?
I know what it is, how it works, and what materials its made from.
Yes, its bloody dangerous stuff. We all get that.
Yes, working with it, in it, or around it can kill you. We get that too.
Yes, money was undoubtedly at the core of the issue, just like with cigarettes and lots of other stuff that's bad for us.
But owning or living in a house under it is not in itself going to necessarily harm you. Its disturbing it that gets the particles into your lungs.
"But owning or living in a house under it is not in itself going to necessarily harm you. Its disturbing it that gets the particles into your lungs."
The presentation specifically said that all it takes to disturb loose fill asbestos is air movement.
I lived in a fibro house and I think "its ok if not disturbed" is accurate for fibro.
For "loose fill" it seems that is not true.
They said it migrates.
They also said it cannot be made safe by removal such a vacuuming.
Well kiss my ass good bye then been a electrical contractor , i have been crawling in that insulation for the last 35 years .By the way the old fiberglass insulation is just as harmful .:dodgy:, That does it my hourly rate has just increased :yahoo:
yes I remember playing in/with the old fiberglass insulation when I was younger (a lot) and I have often wondered if it will take it's toll on me too
Belly - the stuff is risky sorry :(
the last few electrical contractors that we have had around have all asked about the powerboard tag and also checked the ceiling - here they painted the interior of the ceiling white if the asbestos has been removed
years ago they never asked
there are local people here who worked in govvie offices and they say that the asbestos fibres used to sprinkle down onto their desks through the ceiling
the town is rife with the stuff
but I hadn't realised how many towns cities in Oz have been affected, always thought it was more a local supplier problem here in Canberra
local health are predicting a wave of asbestos related illness over the next few decades
the old tradies say ah well, doesn't get ya for 40 years
which isn't 100% true either
I have worked with, lived with etc asbestos and to date, no worries.
That doesn't mean that something will crop up before I fall off the perch.
As a result of the info above, I have made arrangements to get my house tested/inspected here in Victoria.
Quote from: 'bellyflorin' pid='91617' dateline='1467087935'i have been crawling in that insulation for the last 35 years
Well, you should be long dead then, no? :angel:
Look, I'm not making light of this. Its horrible stuff, and it has horrible effects. I'm sure we all learned lots during the whole Hardie saga.
But like with everything, it comes down to so many variables. Level of exposure, individual reactions, other environmental factors, and so on.
Working in an asbestos mine or manufacturing facility is one thing.
Working in an environment that its in, like tradesmen crawling through it, is another.
And simply living near it is another thing again. A very, very distant other thing.
By all means get rid of this dangerous stuff. But lets leave the hype to Facebook
(where the latest bit of scaremongering involves TSP - Trisodium Phosphate in food: https://www.facebook.com/earl.sickbertiii/posts/1332202323476553), shall we?
awareness and cautious avoidance never hurt a single soul
nothing to do with facebook hype
like I said
I have seen the consequences of asbestos on human beings who didn't deserve their fate
just trying to earn a living
the loose fill is a whole 'nother ballgame and not to be underestimated
or flippantly fobbed off which is what a hell of a lot of tradies here do
whilst putting other people at risk with their stupidity
anyways thanks for the alert ozcoins
some folks here might benefit from knowing about the information that is out there - government departments rely on social media to help get the messages out these days
in my work we get the asbestos task force updates and it is considered an important part of the awareness campaigns
cheers
I think it's pretty irresponsible to call this thread "hype" and "scaremongering"
If there is anything incorrect, fine, point it out.
However to compare info that is well known/proven and comes from legitimate sources (including info that can significantly help people with fixing a major problem in thier life - a contaminated house) with the drivel that gets posted on facebook is wrong.
Following the bad hail storm in Nov 2014, nearly all the roofs in 2 adjoining suburbs have been replaced.
The house next door was one of them, an old Roof with asbestos tiles with loose asbestos insulation inside. The workers who did the removal
were all decked out in hazard suits and everything being removed was plastic wrapped as soon as it was possible to do so. A crane was hired to lift the various wrapped 'packages' off the roof.
Then the ceiling was vacuumed with a huge piece of equipment and took many days to complete, so I guess the rules in Qld are different to the ones in NSW.
We saw some asbestos roofing just being removed and dumped in large skips with no attempts made to keep the stuff safe.
My son bought a block of land with a derelict house on it -house had a demolition order; fibro clad.
He demolished it with the help of some workmates and they wore the protective gear and packaged all the fibro into double, heavy duty plastic sacks as advised. He had an authorized contractor lined up to pick it up and dispose of it. Contractor never turned up -always going to come 'soon'.
Some months later the local Council advertised a moratorium on delivering old asbestos products for safe disposal so he packed it up and delivered it all to the 'recycling centre' (previously called the 'tip' or 'dump'). No charge and what did they do then....?
Why they just had bulldozed a large hole in the ground and in it all went.
Quote from: 'Nevol' pid='91651' dateline='1467150643'Then the ceiling was vacuumed with a huge piece of equipment and took many days to complete, so I guess the rules in Qld are different to the ones in NSW.
I think NSW department of fair trading decided that removal (vacuuming) and encapsulation (painting the roof cavity to trap remaining fibres) was not enough to due to studies of houses where remediation work had been done and finding that the people living in the houses were still exposed to asbestos.
From
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/02/-sp-mr-fluffy-cancerous-legacy-canberra
--
Andrew Kefford, the head of the ACT government's taskforce set up to provide advice on how to respond to the Mr Fluffy houses, said the original removals were not as robust as they could have been.
"It only ever started out with the aim of removing visible and accessible asbestos ... those that were found to contain loose asbestos had it vacuumed, and the area was sprayed with a bonding agent," he said.
What the Downer house and assessments from later houses had revealed was that the level of risk was far greater than was anticipated during the earlier removal scheme.
"What we're finding now as we do more assessments is yes, there are fibres in the walls, there are also fibres under the house, and also in a good number of homes those fibres are penetrating the living spaces either through holes in the walls or through cracks in the cornices or other penetrations," he sa
yes they apply a tape on crevices, joins on the walls and ceiling, in bedroom cupboards, floor and wall heater venting outlets etc then measure the amount of asbestos fibres that get collected
and unfortunately it does get collected and that is in the houses where the removal program took place in I think the late 80's or early 90's
the stuff is microscopic and that is the problem
you can't see it with the eye
best to be rid of it but the questions then remain - where does the stuff go for permanent storage that is safe