Spot the errors
|
|
|
|
Administrator
Location: Naremburn, NSW
Member since 15 November 2005
Member #: 1
Postcount: 7521
|
Living in a fibro house shouldn't be an issue unless you have been working with the fibro. Even the roof space should be okay providing any unpainted fibro is intact and not subject to mechanical damage or scuffing which will dislodge particles and see them airborne. This is when they become hazardous.
Prerry much all houses and flats that were built before 1985 will have fibro somewhere but as long as it is left alone and protected from the weather with an occasional paint job it is safe. Asbestos used as insulation is far more dangerous because the particles it is made of is loose and can become airborne much easier. This can be found on steam pipes, electrical insulation in stoves and heaters, in some types of slowburn fireplaces (Kent stoves, Kosi stoves, etc) or parts in older cars from exhaust pipe gaskets to brake pads.
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...
|
|
|
|
Location: Silver City WI, US
Member since 10 May 2013
Member #: 1340
Postcount: 977
|
I watched them working; hope I didn't stand too close when they were cutting; don't believe any power tools were used.
The best way to cut that stuff would be scoring a line with utility-knife, giving it a hit, and hoping for the best 
|
|
|
|
Administrator
Location: Naremburn, NSW
Member since 15 November 2005
Member #: 1
Postcount: 7521
|
Modern fibro, which is at best a weak non-asbestorial (I know that ain't a word!) fibrous cement is usually cut with a hand-held guillotine. The old fibro is very brittle so I am not sure the score-n-snap method would have worked but I am in the sme boat, I never watched people cutting it.
Gyprock (an Australian trade name for what the Yanks call drywall) plasterboard is scored and snapped with a Stanley knife - very easy for even an electrician to work with.
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...
|
|
|
|
Location: Wangaratta, VIC
Member since 21 February 2009
Member #: 438
Postcount: 5559
|
I actually have Grandad's (Buider) gilotine type cement sheet cutter. They do not create a lot of dust.
|
|
|
|
Location: Wellington, NZ
Member since 24 July 2009
Member #: 517
Postcount: 63
|
I remember when my parents extended our house in 1967. The front top section was fibro & the builders cut it with their circular saws. We all inhaled the dust…..
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
6A8G.
|
|
|
|
Location: Linton, VIC
Member since 30 December 2016
Member #: 2028
Postcount: 472
|
In 1967 I lived in a house built by the State Electricity Commission (VIC). The roof was asbestos, so was the briquette heater flu. Beside the house grew an ancient plum tree. I would climb up the tree and jump onto the roof. Not sure what type of asbestos the roof was, perhaps a pressed composite? It was brown with large undulations, best described as corrugated sheets on steroids. Maybe it was cement based mix?
One night the heater flu cracked inside the ceiling cavity and started a fire but the local brigade (SEC workers by day) put it out with minimum fuss.
Next morning SEC workers removed the flu, fitted another (asbestos) and the heater was in operation again that night.
Those were the days when everyone hade a home and car, nobody was rich, nobody was poor, education was free and world class standard,
and everyone had a job.
|
|
|
|
Administrator
Location: Naremburn, NSW
Member since 15 November 2005
Member #: 1
Postcount: 7521
|
I know of four main colours, white, grey, brown and blue.
White and grey usually form pipe lagging and fibro sheets, including the all too familiar curved sheets often seen at the front of many fibro houses - this was made with a standard radius, common to every house that had this feature, and the corrugated sheets that were used on roofs.
Many people found out the hard way that it was not wise (and still isn't) to walk on a fibro roof, even along the line of screws.
Brown asbestos was mostly used in the friable type, meaning it was spun into wool and used to insulate boilers and heat exchangers, though at times white asbestos was also used in the same way.
Blue asbestos, made of the smallest and most easily circulated fibres, was used for brake linings for all types of vehicles but also when regular stopping of electric motors was needed, such as in lift machines. Even though dynamic braking was most often used to stop lifts at each floor, the electric brake was used to stop the lift moving when the lift doors were open.
Whilst the dangers of asbestos are well known, the bottom line is that nothing should be entering our lungs except the freshest air possible. There are newer 'asbestoses' out there. Ceramic fibres are dangerous - the most common form of this product is roof batts, and so are silicate particles, mostly used in stone benchtops that we have been installing in kitchens for a long time now.
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...
|
|
|
|
Location: Linton, VIC
Member since 30 December 2016
Member #: 2028
Postcount: 472
|
Yes, the flue was grey. There was no second lining in the ceiling cavity. Today's wood heaters require two and now three 'skins' in the ceiling.
We are lucky to live in a country where buildings standards are reviewed regularly, although looking at some imported domestic electrical items makes me wonder.
|
|
|
|
Administrator
Location: Naremburn, NSW
Member since 15 November 2005
Member #: 1
Postcount: 7521
|
Unfortunately there isn't much verification done by government anymore. Amanufacturer only has to affix a plate or sticker to a product that states "this product meets the requirements of AS-xxxx" and the job is done. Checking is usually done after something goes wrong and only then do the people concerned get the rollocking they deserve, but of course by then it is too late for any victims.
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...
|
|
|
You need to be a member to post comments on this forum.
|