Lots of us have probably heard of asbestos in one way or
another and most of us should know that it is a potentially
harmful material
that needs to be treated with care. But what is it and why do we need to be so
careful around it?
Asbestos was hugely popular and widespread in the 1950’s
throughout the building and construction industries. The reason? It has very
good insulating properties, by keeping the cold out, whilst holding heat in.
Asbestos was found to also be a strong protector against fire and
corrosion. For these reasons, asbestos
was mass produced and used in a wide variety of ways and incorporated in all
sorts of buildings, including countless thousands of domestic properties.
However, from as far back as the 1970’s, asbestos was found
to hide many serious health risks, mostly concerning the lungs of those who
come into close contact with the fibrous material. Diseases such as:
Asbestosis, Mesothelioma, lung cancer and pleural thickening are the most
common with exposure to asbestos. The difficulty with these are that they take
a long time to develop and therefore, to diagnose. This was one of the factors
why the danger of asbestos wasn’t highlighted straight away.
There were attempts at blanket bans of the use of asbestos
in new builds, but because of various loopholes, it wasn’t until the turn of
the new millennium that it was against the law to use it. Regardless of the
ban, there remains huge portions of buildings that still have asbestos used
somewhere as lining, be it in ceiling tiles, pipe insulation, loft insulation,
boilers or sprayed coatings.
It’s often thought that asbestos was used to add insulation
in lofts as thick panels of it were laid down. This is true; however, it was
more widely spread than that. For example, a sprayed coating of asbestos was
used to protect against fire on beams in properties. AIB, or asbestos
insulating board is highly dangerous and was used in door panels mostly. If
these are cut, then the tiny fibres of asbestos fly out and this is what can
cause lung damage. AIB was also used in many window panels too, and the result
of which is the same as that on the doors.
Thermoplastic tiles that were used on many floors of
buildings in the 1950’s contained asbestos, and these could become air bound if
torn up. Asbestos was also used in cement roof sheeting, commonplace on larger
scale buildings, such as factories and warehouse roofs.
Lastly, asbestos was used in the process of decorative
coating in properties, chiefly the ceiling panel design called Artex. It may
only contain traces of asbestos, but this material should still be treated and
precautions taken when handling it.
