Asbestos Removal Before a House Demolition 2021

House demolition can be a daunting task. There are several factors that can affect the time and cost of the demolition job. There is even some paperwork to sign before the actual house demolition.

In this post, we are going to talk about asbestos and why you need experts to remove this before a house demolition.

What Is Asbestos and Why Is it Harmful?

If inhaled, asbestos fibres can lead to serious health problems. Hence, it’s important that asbestos is safely removed by a trained professional before a house demolition.

In Australia, it’s impossible not to talk about house demolition without discussing asbestos. Asbestos removal is a huge part of the demolition industry.

For more than 15 years, asbestos has been banned in Sydney. However, the ban isn’t retroactive. So if the home you’re looking at demolishing was built before 1990, there’s a high chance it will contain asbestos in some form or another. 

In Australia, asbestos can be in two main forms:

• Friable asbestos: the more dangerous of the two as the asbestos fibres are exposed. This type of asbestos was commonly used n ceilings as insulation.
• Non-friable asbestos: Non-friable refers to asbestos fibres being enclosed in another material, such as cement. One of the most common forms of non-friable asbestos is the asbestos fibre board, also known as “fibro’’.

Due to its warmer and more temperate climate, friable asbestos insulation products are not commonly found in Sydney. 

Asbestos Removal Before House Demolition

Before asking for a house demolition quote from an estimator, it is recommended to hire a building inspector to identify any asbestos that needs to be removed before the excavators start demolishing. Even if the property you are looking to demolish doesn’t have any visible asbestos, there’s a possibility that it could contain asbestos underneath tiles, in piping, or behind fireplaces or splashbacks. 

In some of our inspections, we even discovered entire walls made out of asbestos hidden behind the brick veneer. As you can see, asbestos has a habit of hiding in places where you least expect it. 

A few days before the house demolition starts, a trained lic asbestos removalist will remove all the asbestos contained in the property. 

Since asbestos fibres can lead to severe health problems if inhaled, the asbestos removalist removes each panel of asbestos fibreboard piece by piece without breaking it. The removed panels are wrapped in plastic and placed in a skip for disposal.

The process is actually tedious and time-consuming. However, it is the only safe and compliant way to remove asbestos from your home.

While asbestos is being removed, any tiles on the dwelling’s roof will also be removed. This is done so that the tiles can be disposed of separately from the general waste.

Since tiles are heavy and dense, this saves on tipping costs and helps keep the price of the demolition down. Asbestos can be found in more places around the home than you might expect. This makes asbestos removal commonplace in most house demolition projects. 

Under Australian law, asbestos is an extremely hazardous material and must be disposed of by professionals. Furthermore, you can follow strict guidelines to ensure the safety of all involved in the removal. 

Here are the common places where asbestos can be found:

• Exterior cladding
• Corrugated cement roofing
• Stove insulation
• Hot water pipe insulation
• Textured paint
• Eaves
• Flue pipes
• Wall cladding
• Bathroom linings
• Downpipes
• Guttering
• Electricity and gas meter boxes
• Thermal insulation
• Insulated wiring
• Vinyl and linoleum flooring
• Fibro sheet fencing
• Hotwater systems

Effective Building & Consultancy Experience In Asbestos Inspection Before House Demolition

Effective Building & Consultancy has many years of experience in asbestos inspection. We are partnered with lic asbestos removalists carrying out hundreds of jobs where asbestos needs to be dealt with in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.

We are fully qualified and insured to carry out any asbestos removal project no matter the size or location of the job. 

As soon as the asbestos removal job is confirmed, the asbestos removalists will lodge all the required asbestos permits and notifications with Work Cover to ensure that the removal is carried out within all Australian laws and regulations.

As a building consultant, we will also notify all surrounding neighbours of the site as to when the asbestos removal will take place and the methods of which they will use to ensure everyone’s safety.

We will do this through letterbox drops and verbally when applicable. After the asbestos removal, all the asbestos is safely disposed of and in accordance with Australian law.

Effective Building & Consultancy experts are environmentally and safety conscious. We will take every step we can to ensure that your building is safe and that the asbestos will not harm anyone and the environment in any way.

Once the asbestos removal is completed, we will inspect the area and certify the removal has taken place successfully. We will issue a clearance certificate, which you can submit to the council for your records. 

Why Hire EBC Building Consultant Onboard?

It is important to have a building consultant on board to help you make the right decisions prior to commencing works and have the consultant do different construction stage inspections. By hiring an EBC building consultant, we can perform a risk assessment and asbestos survey before conducting work where asbestos may be disturbed.

We prepare the report that identifies all inspection results, risk assessment, and scope of work for the abatement of the asbestos. The report containing the inspection results must be provided to the owner ad be available at the worksite whenever works are there. 

Through our help, we can recommend you asbestos removalists do the work. Once it’s finished, you will receive a written confirmation that all the asbestos in the property has been removed. 

This signals that the house demolition can proceed. 

For more information about our building inspection services, visit our Help Centre.