Asbestos was a useful building material for many decades. After all, what's not to like? It was fire-resistant, had good insulative properties and was cheap to make. Of course, everyone now knows about the extreme danger asbestos fibres pose to your health, which is why it has been banned in Australia and much of the world. However, many thousands of buildings were built using asbestos, and most of them are still standing today. While you may have had regular asbestos removed from your building, there is a very good chance that you still have bonded asbestos in your home or business.
What Is Bonded Asbestos?
Bonded asbestos is the term for asbestos that was used as an ingredient in the creation of another material. For example, asbestos was often mixed (bonded) with cement in the creation of roofing or flooring. This is different from the more commonly known form of asbestos — loose insulation, also referred to as friable asbestos. Bonded asbestos utilised the properties that made asbestos so popular in a large variety of building materials to the point where nearly every part of your home or building could have some form of bonded asbestos.
Is Asbestos Dangerous If It Is Bonded?
In a stable form, bonded asbestos is not as dangerous as friable asbestos because the fibres do not get into the air, and those loose fibres are what cause all the health issues associated with asbestos. On the other hand, bonded asbestos can be seen as more dangerous because it is an unseen danger that can pose a threat in five, ten or even twenty years with no one knowing. All it takes is for some roofing to crumble, a bit of piping to chip off or someone to unwittingly start demolishing a building with bonded asbestos materials, and those fibres will spring into action.
How Do I Know If I Have Bonded Asbestos?
Bonded asbestos removal is a specific type of service that can come to your home or business, check all commonly known products that contain asbestos and give you the results straight away. If you have had problems with friable asbestos in the past, then there is a good chance you will need bonded asbestos removal as well. Without having your home or business looked over, there is no way of proving one way or another whether your home has bonded asbestos. These tests are simple, quite cheap and, when they are done, give you confidence when making renovations to your home or when you decide to sell in the future.
To learn more, contact a bonded asbestos removal contractor.
When storm season arrives, most of Australia sees plenty of rain, and that often leads to floods. However, water damage can also be caused by a burst water pipe within the home. No matter what caused your water damage, you need to know how to fix it.
While each water damage situation is unique, there are dos and don'ts which will help minimise the impact of the damage done to your property. That's where these posts come in. From the initial mop up to contacting a damage contractor, this advice will make all the difference to your stress levels when water damage happens to you.