Home › Identifying › Signs of asbestos in the home: the ones that matter

Signs of asbestos in the home: the ones that matter

By · Updated

Presence has no visible sign. Damage does. Here is what to look for, and what to do when you find it.

There is no visible sign that a material contains asbestos. It does not stain, smell or show up as a mark. Anyone selling you a list of “telltale signs” of presence is guessing. The signs worth learning are different: they tell you that material which might contain it has been damaged or disturbed. And that is the moment it starts to matter.

Cracked, broken or crumbling sheet

Intact, painted sheeting left alone is usually the calm case. A sheet that has cracked, split or lost a corner is not. The same goes for edges that flake or crumble, and for any surface that looks chalky or fibrous where it should be smooth.

Check the places that take knocks: low wall sheeting near a driveway, lawn-mower height on a shed wall, and the corners of old eaves. Damage is easiest to spot after storms, so a look once the weather clears is worthwhile.

Weathering that has worn through the paint

Old roofing and external sheets weather over decades. Once the paint has gone and the surface looks rough, pitted or furry with moss, the material underneath is exposed to the elements in a way its makers never intended. That does not prove it contains asbestos. It does mean you should stop treating it as maintenance-free.

Do not clean it to find out. Pressure washing or scrubbing a weathered roof or wall is the one thing that can turn a stable surface into a problem.

Debris where there should be none

Look for broken fragments on the ground below eaves, under a fence line or in a garden bed. Offcuts left from an old shed, a torn-up path or a demolished outbuilding sometimes stay in the soil for decades. Small pieces of flat, greyish, cement-like board are the usual suspects. And asbestos in soil explains why a buried fragment is a different problem from an intact panel.

Dust and mess after building work

The most important sign is one that appears after somebody has been working. Sawdust-like grey dust, snapped sheeting in a skip, or a tradesperson who drilled or cut into old lining without asking first are all warnings. Fibre from a cut sheet does not announce itself.

If that has happened, stop the work and keep people away from the area. Do not sweep, vacuum or wipe the dust up yourself, since that moves it around. Close the room off and get advice before anyone goes back in.

Things that look like signs but are not

Mould, water staining and peeling paint say something about moisture, not about what a wall is made of. Old age alone is no sign either: a sheet can be sixty years old and perfectly stable.

Equally, do not expect to see fibres. They are far too fine to see with the naked eye, which is why the useful signs are all about the state of the material around them. If you can see dust or fragments, treat that as the warning and leave the rest to a licensed assessor.

Check before you renovate, not after

The single most useful habit is a quick walk-through before any work starts. Look for the damage signs above in the wall, ceiling or floor you are about to open up. If the house is from the right era and the material is damaged, book the assessment first and the builder second.

What to do when you spot one

Keep it simple, and act on the damage rather than the guess. Stop any work nearby. Keep children, pets and visitors away. Do not try to fix, patch, paint or seal the damaged area yourself.

Then decide how to settle the question. What an asbestos check actually covers explains the three routes: leave it and monitor, sample it through a NATA-accredited laboratory, or engage a licensed assessor. For anything friable, crumbling or widespread, contact the WHS regulator in your state or territory, such as SafeWork NSW or WorkSafe Victoria, for what applies where you live.

If you have no idea what the material is, our evidence check is a fast way to see which route fits. Just remember that it reads the evidence you give it, and only a laboratory confirms anything.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a smell or colour that means asbestos is present?

No. Asbestos has no reliable smell, colour or visible marker. The signs that matter are cracking, crumbling, weathering and dust from disturbance, which tell you about the condition of a material, not what it is made of.

What should I do if I find a cracked sheet on my house?

Leave it alone, keep people away from it and do not patch, paint or clean it. Then decide whether to have it sampled by a NATA-accredited laboratory or assessed by a licensed assessor before any repair.

I think a tradesperson cut into old lining. What now?

Stop the work, keep everyone away from the area and do not sweep or vacuum the dust. Close the room off and seek advice from a licensed assessor or your state or territory WHS regulator before anyone returns.

Does damage prove that a material contains asbestos?

No. Damage only tells you that a material which might contain it has been disturbed. Whether it actually does can only be confirmed by laboratory analysis.

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.

Keep reading