Precautions: What Can Asbestos Be Used Of?
As we already know, Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals, which all share that contains fibrous crystals that can be released by abrasion and other processes. The large scale of asbestos mining started when manufacturers and builders began using asbestos for its desirable physical properties, at the end of the 19th century.
Many houses built before the 1980s highly suspected contain asbestos in ceiling tiles, roof shingles, old floor tiles, siding, roof flashing, pipe cement, insulations (around ducts, pipes, sheeting) and joint compound used on seams between sheetrock. Otherwise, some newer homes may also contain asbestos.
As a highly-effective and cheap fire-retardant and thermal and acoustic insulator, asbestos was used widely in house construction. Nonetheless, we know now that prolonged exposure to asbestos fibers can lead to respiratory disease. In houses built before 1975, asbestos is commonly found in thermal insulation on basement boilers. Disastrously, asbestos can also be found in another household materials including glue that attaches floor tiles and window caulking and glazing.
The hazard comes from asbestos material that has been damaged over time. Asbestos that easily crashed if handled, or that been scrapped, sawed, or sanded into a powder is likely to release dangerous fibers. The most liable to left unknown containing asbestos material are door gaskets, soundproofing and decorative material that sprayed on walls and ceilings, stove-top pads, ironing board covers, and certain hairdryers. We should take precautions knowing that our daily stuff could contain asbestos. Read the Be aware of the asbestos material in this page http://bestasbestosremoval.com
Until the 195s, in New South Wales, around 70.000 homes were built using asbestos cement. Up till the 1960s, 25% of all new housing was clad in asbestos cement. In Victoria, it is suspected that 98% of homes built before the 1970s contained asbestos products (most likely asbestos sheeting) and that 20% of all roofs of that period contained asbestos.
It is not easy, and there is no assuring way to identify the presence of asbestos just by looking. We can only count on a general knowledge that certain building materials installed around the 1980s most likely to contain asbestos. Nonetheless, the only safe way to be certain is to do asbestos testing and have a sample to be analyzed by a laboratory of the asbestos consultant.
There are two types of materials that were used in housing construction that contains asbestos:
• Non-friable asbestos (tightly-bound asbestos)
• Friable asbestos (loosely-bound asbestos)
Non-friable asbestos materials contain a percentage of fibers embedded in a hardened cement matrix and the most standard used in residential. These materials are usually called ‘fiber’ or ‘AC sheeting’ and can contain 10–15% of asbestos. Unfortunately, this figure can sometimes increase up to 40%. Non-friable asbestos materials are advised to have less risk in comparison to friable asbestos. Bonded asbestos materials can be handled quickly, nonetheless, if the tightly bound materials are degrading, becoming loose, they need extra care to prevent dust containing asbestos fibers.
Friable asbestos ordinarily found in residential properties and was mainly used in industrial construction for fire-proofing and insulation. Often in recent cases, glass fibers have replaced asbestos in today’s insulation tools or products.
Nevertheless, in some properties or residential settings the loose form of asbestos may be found in old domestic stoves and hot water systems, also in associated hot water pipe lagging along with ducts insulation products in the backing of vinyl floor tiles. This form of asbestos can contain a high number of asbestos fibers and is very loose and light, turning to dust with low pressure.
There are some spaces of a building where asbestos containing materials were usually used. For example, asbestos is ordinarily found under eaves and wet areas. However, the most accurate way to detect asbestos is to have licensed asbestos consultant to do asbestos testing, and test the product or material. Striving to sample material yourself can be more dangerous than leaving it undisturbed. If you’re confused whether a product or material contains asbestos, it’s safer to treat it as though it does and take the prior precautions.
