What is asbestos?
Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that has been used in a range of building materials to make them more rigid and fire resistant. Asbestos was used extensively as a building material from the 1950s through to the mid 1980s before being banned.
Some of areas in your home where you may find asbestos include:
- roofing, eaves, soffits, gutters and rainwater fall pipes
- garage and shed roofs
- linings for walls, ceilings and doors
- insulation panels in some storage heaters
- bath panels
- central heating flues
- floor tiles
Asbestos fibres put you at risk of developing an asbestos-related disease is the total number of fibres breathed in. Working on or near damaged asbestos-containing materials or breathing in high levels of asbestos fibres, which may be many hundreds of times that of environmental levels can increase your chances of getting an asbestos-related disease. The symptoms of these diseases often do not appear for 20 – 30 years after exposure to asbestos.
Asbestos in your home – what to do?
It can be hard to visually identify asbestos, but if you suspect that you are living with it:
- don’t panic – leave the asbestos alone as it’s safe unless it’s damaged or disturbed
- if you think you have asbestos in your home do not do anything that will release fibres in the air. This means that you should not insert drawing pins, screws or nails or apply adhesive tape.
- never sand, drill or saw asbestos materials
- do not try to remove asbestos materials, spray coatings or insulation board yourself – these materials can only be safely removed by a licensed contractor such as Asbestos Clear.
- removal of asbestos material, such as asbestos cement or asbestos vinyl floor tiles, should be carried out by a skilled contractor whose employees have been trained to work with such material
Asbestos waste may only be disposed of to a site that has been licensed to accept it and Asbestos must be disposed of separately from your normal household waste. With Asbestos Clear you don’t need to worry as we will make arrangements with one of the licensed hazardous waste disposal sites and transport the material for you.
Don’t attempt to remove any asbestos materials yourself just speak to Asbestos Clear and let us take care of everything for you. Call us on 027 4752063 today or contact us via our website.