Title: Cleaning asbestos roofs
A clean roof can make your house look fantastic but if you’ve got an asbestos roof there’s a few things you’ll need to consider to keep you and your neighbourhood safe from deadly asbestos fibres.
If your house was built before the 1990’s, there’s a good chance it contains asbestos.
Often hiding in plain sight, asbestos fibres and dust can cause cancer.
Look at this roof here – it is corrugated but not made of metal and installed before 1990 – all indicators that this is an asbestos roof, commonly known as Super Six asbestos cement roofing.
Well maintained asbestos isn’t going to hurt you. However, damaging or disturbing the asbestos can release dangerous fibres into the air.
Using high-pressure water such as a water blaster or hose on asbestos is particularly harmful – and illegal. Water blasting asbestos can spread fibres across a very large area. These fibres stick to everything - walls, plants, garden soil and lawns and will be there for years if not decades. Not only on your property but neighbouring properties as well.
Unless you remove them, the asbestos fibres can become airborne every time you disturb the area, for example when you mow the lawn. Worse still you can walk the asbestos fibres into your home on your shoes.
The only way to remove the fibres is to dig up the lawn and the garden and chop down plants. Basically your gardens and lawn need to completely removed, like at these homes.
As well as the cost of decontaminating your home and your neighbour’s home, there are heavy fines for water blasting asbestos. So, be aware of dodgy operators offering to clean asbestos roofs. You may still be held responsible even if you didn’t perform the water blasting yourself.
Never use high pressure water to clean your asbestos roof.
There are lots of safe alternatives on the market that have been specifically designed for Super Six roofs, including surface primers, fungicides and paints. Better still, why don’t you consider having the roof replaced using modern materials, if possible.
Remember – never use high pressure water on asbestos roofs. It’s not worth the risk to the health of you, your family and neighbours.
