Today, we’re going to talk about the big no-no’s with asbestos. This is going to be a quick one and it’sjust all about any of these things that you do, you can release asbestos fibers. And they’re so light, theywillpenetrate every part of your home. They’ll spread for ages, endangering people everywhere aroundyou.
So,the number one no-no is do not ever, ever, ever cut asbestos with an angle grinder. We had a jobabout two years ago, where someone decided that theywould cut asbestos with an angle grinder. Wehad to get specialists involved. Those people lost everything in their house. There was testing done byhygienists, from every corner of the house, and they found that the asbestos fibers were in thebedrooms,the lounge room, the kitchen, the rumpus room, the garage. The only safe thing to do wasto… what we couldn’t decontaminate, we threw out. And the people in the house said, “You knowwhat? We don’t want any of it. We don’t even want to have to wonder whether it is or not.” So that’skey, I can’t stress the importance of that.
Numbertwo,youshould never water blast any asbestos products. I know people have fences painted,the outside of their house, mold removal, and all that kind of stuff. High-pressure water blasting is amassive no-no. If you water blast asbestos roofs happen all the time,what that does is it erodes thesurface, releases the shards and breaks down the fibers, and they just spread everywhere. Worst casescenario, or not even worst-case scenario, typical standard procedure would be about 30-$40,000cleanup if you water blastan asbestos roof. Big chunks of cement and asbestos just fly everywhere. It’sgoing to spray all over the neighbors, it’s going to go through your whole garden. Things like the gardenwill have to be ripped out, and the top 100 mils of soil and grass willcome out. It’s a really big deal. Thatroof may have to be replaced if it can’t be encapsulated if it’s deemed too unsafe. So never water blastanything asbestos.
The other thing is don’t see it. Don’t go, “Oh, well, I’ve got this special fibro saw.” I guess you can buy thesaws from Bunnings that’ll cut tiles and all that kind of stuff.So,I’m not saying that there are things thatare out there that don’t exist, but you just can’t use them on asbestos. You definitely can’t cut it with agrinder, and definitely can’t water blast it, but you may be able to use a saw under controlled conditionsif you’re trained and you’ve got the right equipment. But, a golden rule, do not see asbestos.
Another one that we see a lot is drilling into asbestos. We have equipment for that, it’s not a DIY thing.There are all these ridiculous things with shaving creams in coffee cups. And people are going to say,”Oh, that’s what we did.” But I can tell you what’s happened because we’ve tested it. We didn’t test it onasbestossheeting, we tested it on just normal fibro. When you fill a cup with shaving cream and you putit against a wall and you drill, what happens is the first layer of dust that hits that shaving cream actuallyjust forms a crust, and then all the other dust just hits up against it.So,when you pull the cup out, youhave this dust. So just don’t. There’s a whole industry out there, including us, of people that areequipped to do that.
So, no water blasting, no cutting with grinders, no sawing of asbestos. AndI’m going to put in there, anddrilling holes. And I’m going to put in there, as well, no hole saws. Because someone’s going to go, “Oh,I’m not drilling, I’m putting in a hole saw.” A lot of electricians are fitting downlights into eaves. Okay.We see ita lot. I was at a job yesterday where the electrician went with the 10 square meter rule andsaid, “It’s all right, I can drill these holes into your eaves, no worries, for your downlight, that’s great.” Ispoke to the homeowner. She had no idea that hereaves could be asbestos. She said there was dusteverywhere. The guy had it all over his face. It’s just massive, why? I don’t understand why anyonewould do it. We have equipment here atCoastal Asbestos, we can cut from 25 mils up to about 450 milround holes in asbestos sheeting. It’s specialized equipment. We’re trained, we’ve got all the gear, justcall us. There’s no need for any electricians to be boring holes through asbestos eaves for downlights.
You’ve got two options. These are the only two options. Get someone who’s trained, professional,licensed and insured to do the work, or have the eaves removed. I guess there is option three, just don’tdo it. So, I can’t stress the importance enough, all these things that we’re talking about turn somethinginnate, that is just sitting there, into friable asbestos. And you don’t want to be messing around withfriable asbestos. So that’s me, Jason from Coastal Asbestos. I hope you found that informative. If you likethis video, there’s plenty more over on our YouTube channel: