Identifying Asbestos In Bathroom Walls

While you can t easily tell if your walls are made from asbestos there are a few telltale signs that will lead you to organising further testing.

Identifying asbestos in bathroom walls.

If the plaster is undamaged it s usually best to leave it alone. In these homes asbestos insulation was placed in the wall cavity behind a plaster and lath or plasterboard finish wall. To determine if your building has asbestos check areas where the material was most commonly used like the roof bathroom and basement. Asbestos insulation boards can often be identified due to the distinctive connections between panels as seen in the photo below.

In residential buildings aib was often used for bathroom and kitchen walls. Actinolite fibres can be found as brittle fibrous dense or compact and expand when exposed to heat so make for a good insulator. It was used in fibro cement sheeting in walls ceilings and floors and the lagging on hot water pipes. One of the main areas asbestos can be found is in the bathroom.

Also look around the siding roofing and soffit materials for small dimples or shallow craters on the surface which are signs of asbestos. If you see crumbling cracks or water damage or if the plaster has been sawed scraped or sanded it may be releasing asbestos fibers. If you discover that you do have insulation containing asbestos you can leave it in place or have it removed by a local asbestos abatement company. You can test the insulation for asbestos using a diy asbestos testing kit or by having a sample tested at an approved testing laboratory.

Actinolite actinolite asbestos fibres are very light and generally dark in colour. Some sources illinois epa indicate that asbestos was used for loose blown in fill building insulation as well as batt insulation. To identify asbestos in your walls a piece of the wall needs to be sent to a nata accredited testing facility which will then determine whether there is any asbestos in the walls of your home. Asbestos was used commonly in ceilings since it helps with soundproofing and insulation it s more resistant to fire and it also hides ceiling imperfections.

Tremolite actually can manifest in several colours like white green and grey. If they re intact the asbestos materials in your bathroom don t pose a health risk to you and your family or tenants.