Homes with Asbestos - Would you buy?

Asbestos in brake pads has been illegal since 2003?

 

Wrong again, found Turner Freeman compassionate and respectful towards my son for the 18 months of his illness, they were also very kind & helpful to me explaining the legal process as it went along, it was apparent to me the solicitor that handled the case was upset when my son passed away.
I often wondered about the cumulative effect of so many clients dying had on their emotional health, because they are human themselves and become involved in every aspect of their client's lives for a period of time ...

 

I hope the likes of Hardies and CSR burn in hell for the harm they caused. I'm all for the lawyers who take on these difficult cases to seek justice and the only way to do that is a monetary penalty.

I worked with a girl who lived at Whittenoom as a child. The Hancock empire managed to avoid claims by being a landowner not the operator which to this day seems a travesty for the Reinhardt billions founded on death which later funded their iron ore empire. Nobody in her family was alive and she knew it was a matter of time. 100% certainty of death by age 30 she said.

 

I wouldn't buy a house that old TBH. I have a young family and another little miracle on the way. New information comes up all the time about late effects of toxic exposure. Thing is if I know about the danger, I will avoid it.

Paul@PFI: I agree with you. Corporations and the "humans" running them are absolutely despicable when it come to the lengths they will go to to continue spreading their poisonous products in order to make profits. The tobacco industry and lead industry (in terms of their campaign for leaded petrol) comes to mind. The sad thing is that many countries now have the terrible legacies of lead paint and asbestos to deal with. The general public is ignorant when it comes to these dangers. The manufacturers often knew of such dangers long before **** hits the fan. Renovators, builders/tradesmen/women, homeowners, babies, kids and pregnant ladies etc. are still being poisoned by these legacies every day. So when comments appear too flippant about such issues I get upset. James Hardie knew about the dangers of asbestos as early as 1930s! And the company's dealings were shameful anyway to begin with.
The shameful legacy of James Hardie


Goal posts for the limits/ tolerable levels of such exposure changes all the time. For example, lead paint definition was 1%w/w in paint until just recently when it was changed to 0.1%w/w (2017 standards) in Australia (USA has even stricter criteria). USA use to have a tolerable daily limit for lead intake but took it away now as studies after studies show there is no safe level for lead exposure in anyone. We know, for a very long time now, that even a minuscule exposure of lead in the form of invisible lead dust/ soluble lead in water and alike to babies,children and pregnant ladies can cause long term lasting damage (but because it's not usually a matter of acute life or death, just brain damage/ learning difficulties/ adhd, conduct disorders, loss of IQ, propensity to criminal activities etc, so no one really cares.) Standards are just slow to catch up to what we know since the very early 1900s and yet manufacturers of paint in the early 1900s to even 1970s-80s were still adding vast amount of lead to house paint.

And who knows with asbestos- we know about mesothelioma and lung cancer which are devastating diseases. It also causes and increases the risk of one developing other diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, asbestosis, strokes, heart attacks and heart diseases etc., which are not cancer per se, but are also serious diseases that affects a person's quality of life. No respectable medical person will tell you what level of asbestos exposure is safe because there is none! Of course there are other comfounding factors as to if a person gets a medical condition or not but it is a major and avoidable risk factor if you can avoid it.

Apologies. I will now get off my soapbox. In short, because of what I see at work and my own experiences, to anyone asking these questions I will always advise avoid if you can, and if you can't, research and make sure these dangers in the house are remediated properly according to the highest standards. I actually find it hard to trust any tradesperson to do the remediation jobs properly as many I spoke to do not even think these issues are that much of a big deal. Therefore I rather trust medical and scientific facts and research, then outdated standards or flippant "you'll be all right, it's everywhere anyway" comments and avoid these issues if I can in the first place. But that's me. In saying that I think how much risk you are willing to take is also dependent on the stage of life you are at and how risk adverse you are. At this point in my life and the lives I am responsible for the risks are too great for me to take. If I am older with grown up children and no babies in my care, I will likely be more willing to take on such risks and remediate them properly rather then absolutely avoid them.

 

Due to the cladding on the Grenfell towers, other apartments are now losing 90 per cent of value as the cladding is considered a major failure. I can see how that value loss could extend to asbestos riddled properties without remediation.
"New Capital Quay, Greenwich, worth £50,000 rather than £475,000, owner told"
Value of London flats slashed by Grenfell-style cladding

 

Dangerous to handle, that is it. And no point complaining about the genie being out, is like spilt milk.

People also conveniently ignore the myriad of other problems all around us, and think nothing of the garbage or what they put down toilet etc etc. The hysteria over asbestos in say fibro sheets that are left alone is overdone.

Also, these new problems will keep popping up.

 

.....the cladding is a fire problem, of course it would effect value, and plenty of new buildings have it......so much for only buying new.

 

Those sheets degrade. I looked at a property where I thought there was some asbestos. In turned up every where though and the roof was leaking into ceiling asbestos. Realistically, the council should have had a demo order on it but they refused to take action. If it ever gets out the occupants are harmed I have evidence that would get in the hands on litigators.

 

I am so sorry to hear about your son. It would have been a difficult time and likely still difficult to talk about.

 

The issues are known, if there is a problem, you tend too it. Then carry on.

 

There are whole suburbs, towns, all across this country that are largely fibro or have a lot of asbestos.

These areas and houses do not have an epidemic of deaths or walking dead, it would be clear by now if that was happening.

So to the OP.....I say just use common sense, and if doing renos take the precautions required, and there is no way to rule it out of a new buy unless you know where all materials came from.

All the justice and moral talk is really a seperate issue.

 

Mesothelioma in Australia
Australia has the second-highest mesothelioma death rate in the world, trailing only that of the United Kingdom. Mesothelioma, a rare cancer caused by asbestos exposure, is leaving its mark on the nation with more than 10,000 people succumbing to the disease since the early 1980s. According to cancer experts, an additional 25,000 people are expected to die from it over the next four decades.

Definition of 'dabbler' an amateur who engages in an activity without serious intentions and who pretends to have knowledge

 

Yeah ok, have your free shot.

Now maybe it can get back to the question at hand, not on the effects of working on or with asbestos.

It takes little time to find good info minus the alarmist outlook for those that want to know.

 

So if I want to buy an old IP and want to remove the asbestos, does it mean it is a big project? Or should I rather demolish and build a new one?

What do you think about the asbestos removal cost wise and what is involved? Did anyone in this forum have done this?

Morally and ethically I care about my future tenants and their family wellbeing as I am expecting for them to rent my place for a long time

 

The problems exist while working on it. There is plenty of advice out there on handling asbestos, there is no secret anymore.

The costs will depend on what your doing, on old places most likey it is the bathroom and kitchen area you may be working on, you can get quotes. It is something people in the game all know about.....you do not need to look for and remove everything.