Asbestos in Houses

Asbestos is no longer used as a building material in New Zealand. There are still however many tens of thousands of homes that have Asbestos containing materials that were used when they were built. By the mid 1980’s Asbestos was no longer used in any component of house building.
 
So, if your property was built later than the mid 1980’s it is highly unlikely to contain Asbestos. Prior to that time Asbestos was used as a component of textured ceilings - “porridge ceilings”, “Glamatex” or “Whisper” were common names.

Asbestos was also used as a component of Asbestos cement used as a cladding either in sheet form or as weatherboards plain and profiled “fibrolite”. Asbestos cement was also used as a roofing material and had a corrugated profile like galvanised iron roofing used today.
 
Older vinyl floor coverings as sheet vinyl or tiles often contained Asbestos. So, are these products dangerous to your health? As long as the Asbestos products such as those described are not treated in such a way that they produce dust there is no real danger.
 
That means do not sand (for painting), saw cut (producing sawdust = Asbestos dust) or high-pressure waterblast which when the blasted off material dries will expose the fibre. Also do not scrape off textured ceilings applied earlier than the mid 1980’s without testing for Asbestos first.

For vinyl flooring don’t floor sand to either remove it or to provide a surface for new vinyl to go on top if it may contain Asbestos. There is certainly no need to panic or fear these products. Your A Buyer’s Choice Home Inspector can have your materials tested for Asbestos if you are concerned.