Fibre cement sheet today: the modern product and the older material that shares its name
"Fibre cement sheet" is what hardware suppliers call the product now. And it is also the informal name people search when they are unsure about an older grey board. The two questions have different answers.
Fibre cement sheet bought from an Australian hardware supplier or building merchant today does not contain asbestos. Manufacturing, importing and using asbestos in any building product was banned outright from 31 December 2003. The fibre cement sold since is reinforced with cellulose and synthetic fibre instead.
The confusion comes from the name: the product sold today as fibre cement sheet is a direct descendant of the asbestos cement sheet it replaced. And the two share a category name that outlived the ingredient.
Why the same name survived the ingredient change
Cement sheet reinforced with fibre has been a building category for more than a century. And the industry kept using the generic description through the changeover rather than inventing a new one. What changed through the 1980s, and was locked in for good by the ban, was what supplied the reinforcement.
Fibre cement sheet made today, sold under a range of brand names at ordinary building suppliers, uses cellulose pulp and synthetic fibre, not asbestos. That is a genuine reformulation of the product, not a rebrand of the same material under a friendlier name.
What tells you a sheet is a modern product, without cutting into it
New sheet carries a manufacturer's stamp or embossed edge marking that older asbestos cement generally does not. And it comes with a current safety data sheet from the supplier confirming the fibre content. If you are buying it retail for a renovation, that documentation is the reliable answer, not the look of the finished, painted board once it is on a wall.
Keep the docket, delivery slip or product data sheet from the job. It is the easiest way to show what actually went up if the question ever comes back, whether from a future buyer, a tradesperson, or you in ten years' time.
Where this comes up on a roof job specifically
Corrugated fibre cement is still sold today, mainly for shed cladding, rural buildings and heritage-matched re-roofing where a corrugated profile has to stay. Flat fibre cement sheet is the more common choice on a house, usually for eave linings, fascia replacement or wall cladding done alongside other roofing work. Both are the same asbestos-free reformulation described above, and both carry the same documentation.
The situation worth being careful about is a partial job: new fibre cement fascia or eave lining fitted next to sheeting nobody has tested. Confirm each material on its own rather than assuming the whole roof is one product just because part of it is freshly supplied and documented. The roof replacement page covers how that kind of mixed job is actually run.
What if you are not the one who bought it?
That is the harder case, and it is the one this page cannot settle. A board fixed by a previous owner, or by a builder decades ago, gives you none of that paperwork. And a sheet that has been painted more than once can look identical whichever era it is from.
That situation is a material-identification question, not a buying question. And it belongs on a different page: asbestos cement sheeting covers what the older product was made of, the two shapes it came in. And the honest paths to confirming what you actually have.
Ask for the documentation when the source is not a mainstream supplier
A supplier's technical data sheet for a current fibre cement product will reference the Australian Standard it is manufactured to, alongside the fibre content. It is reasonable to ask for one when sheet comes from a source other than a fresh delivery from a recognised building supplier, such as leftover stock, a demolition yard or material passed on from another job.
None of that paperwork exists for a board that has been on a house since before it was sold that way. That is exactly the case the identification page is written for, not this one.
The shared name will keep causing this, and that is fine
There is no realistic fix for the shared category name, and there does not need to be one. What matters in practice is which sheet you are actually dealing with: freshly bought and documented, or already fixed to a wall with no paper trail behind it. Treat the first case as settled and the second as a genuine identification question, and the ambiguity in the search term stops mattering.
Frequently asked questions
Does fibre cement sheet sold today contain asbestos?
No. Asbestos was banned in Australian building products from 31 December 2003, and fibre cement sheet manufactured and sold since is reinforced with cellulose and synthetic fibre instead.
What is fibre cement sheet made of now?
Modern fibre cement sheet is a mix of Portland cement, sand or silica, and cellulose or synthetic fibre reinforcement, cured under controlled conditions. No asbestos fibre is used in current manufacturing.
How is fibre cement sheet different from asbestos cement sheet?
They are made the same general way, cement reinforced with fibre, but the reinforcing fibre changed. Asbestos cement sheet, made up to the early 2000s, used asbestos fibre. Fibre cement sheet made since uses cellulose and synthetic fibre instead.
How do I know if a sheet I am buying is asbestos-free?
Retail fibre cement sheet from a mainstream Australian supplier comes with a current safety data sheet confirming the fibre content, and the sheet itself usually carries a manufacturer's stamp or embossed marking. Keep that documentation from the purchase.
What if I do not know who fitted the sheet on my house?
That is a material-identification question rather than a buying question. The page on asbestos cement sheeting covers what the older asbestos-containing product looked like and the two honest ways to confirm what you actually have.
Sources
What this page explains is based on these official sources. If you check one and it does not match what you read here, send it to us and the article gets corrected.
- NSW Government. Asbestos in NSW. The NSW Government asbestos portal
- Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency. Asbestos Product Guide. What products contained asbestos and where they were used