Have you just purchased a new home or planning renovations on your current home? If you have an older property, you may wonder whether you have asbestos walls that need removing before you start your renos. But to identify an asbestos product wall, you need to do more than to take a quick look.

Simply put, you can’t tell if a wall inside your home has asbestos by just looking at it. 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 fibers in the walls of your home.

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.

Firstly, in many homes, low density fibre board (LBD) was typically used in internal walls and ceiling panels before the use of asbestos materials for health and safety reasons were stopped. It does look similar to plasterboard and this is where many people get concerned. LBD should have a trade name of Asbestolux or Duralux on one side of the sheeting, however, the absence of this does not mean the walls are asbestos free.

So what types of things should you look out for before calling an asbestos removal expert?

Often you will see the head of fasteners, nails and clouts embedded or partially embedded into the surface. You may also find that the head of the fastener does not sit flush with the wall panel. Often, you will see the edges were slanted or hand planed to ensure that when panels were fixed together, they formed a “V” finish. Joins of asbestos materials are also usually covered with flat or moulded timber strips.

If you feel that you have friable asbestos sheeting in your home, it is important to call in an asbestos removal expert who can organise the testing of your wall and then removal of the walls. Need a hand? Call the team at Icon Asbestos Removal; we can help identify asbestos walls, and remove them with minimal down time for you.