Asbestos

I had an interesting dialogue going on by email with the agent over the house I’d spotted in Bonython, when I was in Melbourne. There is asbestos in the house, which ruled it out for us. I’d prefer not to have a house built using asbestos if it can be avoided.

Interestingly, whilst its use in the building industry has been discouraged for about the last 15 years, and even though the house was built in 1992, it has asbestos in it. I was surprised to learn that in Australia, asbestos has only been banned for the last few years. A new (or newer) house is to be considered.

Is there asbestos in your house? Yes? No? Are you sure? Have a look at this web site.

This Bonython exercise has been quite an eye opener. In Canberra, building reports are mandatory. A very comprehensive report has to be made available to prospective buyers. This is an excellent service. The report for the Bonython property included a statement from the owner saying with words to the effect that there was no asbestos in the building as far as they were aware. Well, that qualifier leaves the issue wide open. It’s a pointless statement. A waste of paper. If the content of these reports provides limited information the value of the report is diminished. Similar statements regarding asbestos came up in the report at various places, all of which generally noted a supposed absence of asbestos. Then I made an interesting observation in the report.

There were some building plans included in the report. Building plans are generally large sheets of paper. Well, the ones I’ve seen are. Think: architect’s easel. But the copy in the report had been photo reduced to the standard A4 paper size. Consequently, the hand written text was faint and difficult to read. But with a magnifying glass, and a sense of Sherlock Holmes about me, I managed to make out the word: Villaboard.

The eaves were labelled in the plan to have been constructed of Villaboard. Some sort of sheeting used to build villas? I don’t think so. A trade name obviously, but what is it? The web comes into its own, at times. Villaboard is an asbestos product manufactured by James Hardy.

It’s easy to imagine builders having large stocks of asbestos sheeting back in the mid-1980s being hesitant to dump their stocks simply because its use was being discouraged. No one willingly throws away money. And if you can afford to buy bulk to save costs, why wouldn’t you? Builders would be using up their old stock. So, with a ban only taking effect from 2004 onwards there is a chance that any house built earlier than 2004 will contain asbestos. An unpleasant thought. No doubt the closer to 2004 the construction date of your house was, the less likely you are of having asbestos in the house, but it is possible.

And have you been thinking about newer properties; perhaps an apartment? Think again. I was surprised to see a note on the ACT govt web site that “the first compliance date is on 1 September 2008 for multi-storey buildings.” So much for anyone considering moving into a high rise apartment building as a way of escaping asbestos. There is a good chance you’ll still be living with asbestos for years to come. The legislation will affect different types of structures in stages. The legislation will come into effect progressively in the coming years, with community or recreational premises not being obliged to be constructed without asbestos until late in 2010.

I feel quite depressed, now. There's plenty on the web on asbestos. Try this.