Asbestos check - suggestions

Hi Everyone,

We would like to perform some light renovation on a brick veneer house made in 1979. I believe that all houses from that time contain asbestos in some area, our plan is to remove and retile the shower are only for the sower screen part, rest of the bathroom does not have any tile,
Also, we want to change the kitchen benchtop and leave cabinets as is and to add splashback tiles to the kitchen.

if there is any asbestos, can we arrange to remove it only for the area that will be disturbed as part of the renovation or we need to remove from all kitchen and all bathroom?

Do you recommend any asbestos inspector in the Melbourne area? we are not going to commence any renovation or contact any tradesman before this asbestos check and report.

Also, the kitchen and bathroom floors are vynal and maybe asbestos are underneath, can we just put another new Vynal flooring on top this without disturbing the existing one or remove it?
rest of the house had wooden flooring and we only need to sand and polish it to renew the look.

I have attached two photos from the kitchen and bathroom.



Thanks in advance

 

If your getting trades to do the work, they will know what to do.

 

Hiya,
Your correct, most houses built before the mid-1980's will have at least some asbestos within the building. Here's a website filled with info about asbestos in homes and how you can do renovations safely (https://asbestosawareness.com.au/asbestos-in-the-home/where-is-it-found/)

Yes you can limit the removal of asbestos to only the part that you are disturbing, you dont need to remove it from the whole room.

The vinyl tiles usually don't contain any asbestos, however the tile backing and sometimes the glue underneath often times did. But if you are tiling (or putting new vinyl) straight over the top, you are not disturbing the existing tiles so it should be fine.

Wet areas like bathrooms/laundry's or hot areas like kitchens in older houses, often used asbestos wall sheets. So if you are going through the walls, then you would want to be careful. Also you say that in the bathroom you want to remove the wall tiles inside the sower screen. These tiles may be glued to asbestos wall sheets, so again be careful.

Lastly with your kitchen remodelling - the bench top though is unlikely to be made of asbestos. The cabinets also look fairly recent, at least not built in the 1980's so working around them should be fine too.

I don't know any Melbourne assessors, but if you talk to the contractors, usually they will know what materials are asbestos and the proper way to handle it.

 

Thank you,
I arranged an inspection and house checked by a qualified inspector, no asbestos in kitchen and splash back, the vinyl floor is soft and does not have asbestos and also they used normal plasterboard in the bathroom, they took one sample from the plasterboard in the bathroom from behind the tiles to test in the lab. the only area of this house that contains asbestos is in the eaves which is in a good condition and I do not have a plan to change it or disturb it.

 

Thank God.

You *may* now have satisfied todays tenancy requirements

 

The vinyl tiles usually don't contain any asbestos, however the tile backing and sometimes the glue underneath often times did. But if you are tiling (or putting new vinyl) straight over the top, you are not disturbing the existing tiles so it should be fine.

Great post. We had vinyl floors that were crumbling and the glue under it was asbestos, as was the wall sheeting in the bathroom that had also deteriorated badly. Couple of thousand to remove but felt better about it for trades working there and tenants. I am concerned about the number of trades workers who don't give a **** about it ....