Things DIYers Should Know About Asbestos

Home renovation is one of the most popular weekend past times these days, with more and more people inspired to improve their homes and most doing the projects themselves. However, if you are planning to start any home DIY projects, then you should know a little about asbestos and some of the asbestos risks, in order to keep you and your family safe.

From the end of the 19th century, this material became popular as a building material as a fire retardant and was commonly used in ceilings for insulation. However researchers began to note that there was an unusual prevalence of lung disease and early death in asbestos mining towns. From there further research revealed that it was responsible for causing some types of cancers called mesothelioma.

In the 1970s the use asbestos was phased out, but there still remains a large number of homes in the UK that still have asbestos in parts of the construction. It is now banned from being used in the construction industry altogether throughout the European Union and most other parts of the world too. Asbestos removal has to be done under special conditions to prevent the fibres being released and causing harm to those that breathe them in, which should always be carried out by a professional asbestos removal company.

If you have a home that was built prior to the seventies, you should bare in mind, that before attempting to do any home renovations, it is a very good idea to have the home inspected for use of the asbestos material.

Most people know about the use of this potentially deadly material as insulation in ceilings however, there are some locations in the home that might be harbouring it, that you have never previously considered. Asbestos was sometimes used in taping or blanketing of pipes, boilers and in older houses with internal fire places, asbestos cement can sometimes be found in the original hearth. It also may have been used in certain types of tiling in the home and could have been used in the adhesive or backing of vinyl or rubber floor tiles. If you are planning to pull these off or sand the floor underneath, then you could be putting yourself at risk of breathing in the asbestos fibres.

You can also potentially find it outside your home in roof tiles. Many of the roof tiles that were installed in post-war homes have it as a base material. If you remove these tiles, or drill into them, again you can potentially release asbestos fibres that can cause serious illness to the lungs.

There are plenty of asbestos profesionals who are able to remove asbestos products, so that you can complete your home renovation projects without having to worry about its presence and the potential harm it can cause. Then you can get on with the aim of making your home a more pleasant and comfortable place to live.

There are more than 3000 asbestos products that were commonly used in home construction up until the 1970s, so if you are going to be renovating an older home and are concerned about finding asbestos, then it is essential that you have an asbestos survey carried out by an asbestos expert prior to starting. If they do discover asbestos, then you can arrange to have it safely removed by an asbestos company to prevent any risk to you and your family.

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