When buying a property built before 1985, is it essential to get an asbestos inspection? what are the implications if you bought a property that contains asbestos?
If it is in good condition - nothing If it is poor condition - it should be removed (at your cost). Some states/councils do have incentives for the removal of asbestos.
Asbestos was commonly used in building materials between the 1940s and 1980s. It was used because it is fire resistant, durable and an efficient insulating material. Now that we are aware of the health risks, it is no longer mined in Australia. Since December 2003, it has not been imported (legally) or used in any Australian products either. As a guide, homes built from 1988 onwards should be asbestos free, while homes built before 1984 may contain significant asbestos sources. Generally, the presence of asbestos in home building materials does not pose a health risk unless the material is broken, deteriorating or disturbed in such a way that dust containing asbestos fibres is produced (such as during sanding, drilling or sawing). It can be difficult to tell whether a building material contains asbestos. The only way to be certain is to have a sample of the material tested in an accredited laboratory. If you do not want to test the material then it should be treated as though it contains asbestos.
It is hard to be certain of asbestos in non-invasive inspections. To be sure, you would need scrapings from suspect areas, something no seller is going to allow. Marg
We were asked to place a piece about the size of a 50 cent piece into a ziplock bag for testing. I'm not sure if a scraping would be enough (even if the vendor allowed such a scraping to be taken)?
When the school library I worked in was repainted, it had to be inspected for asbestos. The tester took what he called scrapings - as you said, about the size of a 20c-50c coin, through the paint and including a shallow scraping of the wall material. Left unsightly little spots. Marg
We had an inspection prior to buying this place and yes, small pieces were removed from places like inside a wardrobe. The seller allowed it and you wouldn’t know it had been done looking around. We were more worried about Mr Fluffy at the time...
