Asbestos and house fires what you need to know.
Asbestos was widely used in homes built before 1990 in Australia it was used in asbestos walls,asbestos flooring,asbestos ceilings,asbestos fencing and asbestos flooring . As we know asbestos sheeting that is in good condition poses no immediate risk and can be safely left alone . One of the reasons asbestos was used so much in so many products was because of its thermal qualities, and fire resistance which means that house fires don’t affect the asbestos fibers themselves .
There are two classifications of asbestos we talk about in the asbestos removal industry Friable and Non Friable . The definition of non friable is asbestos fibers that are held in a matrix like in concrete sheeting these fibers are part of the sheet and thus are non friable . When asbestos is in loose form or in a matrix that can be easily crushed by hand pressure it is considered Friable .
This is where the fire comes in ,even though the asbestos fibers were previously held in a sheet form when the building was built ,the fire can make this sheeting deteriorate so much that the asbestos fibers are now friable and moving freely . Previously non friable asbestos sheeting is now classified as friable asbestos sheeting by safe work Australia.
Best practice is to engage a qualified A class asbestos removal company to remove the debris and decontaminate the rest of the home or in more severe cases the whole house may have to be demolished and disposed of as friable asbestos waste defiantly a job for asbestos specialist . For more information about asbestos removal head to our web site www.coastalasbestosremoval.com.au.