General information from Queensland’s guidance, not a building inspection or safety advice. The official place to check is asbestos.qld.gov.au.
Queensland’s minor renovation guide says a building put up before the mid 1980s is highly likely to have some asbestos materials, and one built after 1990 is highly unlikely to. You cannot tell by looking, so the useful question is where to suspect it: Queensland’s lists run from the roof, eaves and wall sheeting outside to wet areas, floors and the switchboard inside.
Handling Read before you touch anything
- The national asbestos agency says it is “not recommended that you handle or remove asbestos yourself”, and that getting a professional to do the job is easier and safer.
- Queensland’s health page puts the danger plainly: “It is when asbestos is worked with or disturbed and asbestos fibres are released that the risk of developing an asbestos related disease is increased.”
- Queensland’s homeowner questions page says: “Never use power tools (such as power saws, drills, sanders and angle grinders) or high pressure water blasters on asbestos materials.” Queensland’s prohibited activities page adds two more that state law forbids when you are working with or removing asbestos-containing materials: compressed air or abrasive blasting, and a household vacuum cleaner, even one with a HEPA filter (only cleaners specially designed for asbestos work may be used), which the page calls very dangerous because they can release large numbers of asbestos fibres into the air. The national agency also says never to clean asbestos with anything abrasive, such as scrubbing, sanding or grinding. Queensland’s renovating tips also tell you not to “Saw, sand, scrape or drill holes in asbestos materials.”
- In Queensland, asbestos waste must go to a disposal site licensed to receive it: a landfill that can lawfully take asbestos waste, usually run by your local council. It is illegal to put it in a domestic garbage bin. The other option Queensland lists is a plastic-lined industrial skip, which may be provided by a waste contractor holding an environmental authority to transport regulated waste.
Age comes first
Queensland’s guide sorts buildings by when they were built:
- Before the mid 1980s“highly likely that it would have some materials containing asbestos”
- Mid 1980s to 1990“likely that it would have materials containing asbestos”
- After 1990“highly unlikely it would have materials containing asbestos”
Its advice where you are unsure: “If you are not sure whether a building material contains asbestos, play it safe and assume that it does.” The guide draws two Queenslander houses and a commercial building, marking where asbestos materials were commonly used, on pages 23 to 25.
Bonded materials, the common kind
Queensland’s guide lists where non-friable (bonded) asbestos materials were commonly used, in homes and other buildings alike. Here is each item in the guide’s own words, sorted roughly by where you would meet them:
Mostly outside
Mostly inside, or out of sight
Roofs have their own risks, set out in the national agency’s page on the dangers of asbestos cement roofs; this page leaves them there. Inside, Queensland’s fire page names floor tiles and flat fibre cement sheeting (fibro) in walls and ceilings among the typical materials in older properties.
Floors and wet areas
Queensland’s guide says asbestos vinyl tiles “were often used in Queensland houses”, and that the glue holding them down might also contain asbestos.
Sheet vinyl is a different specimen. The vinyl itself has no asbestos, but some had a felt-like backing that is friable; the guide says this product usually came in sheets with a “‘terrazzo’ type (colourful marble or stone chip) pattern look on the surface” and is most often found in buildings from before the mid 1980s. It must only be removed by a removalist with a class A licence. Some felt carpet underlay is friable too.
In the guide’s house drawings, bathroom, toilet and laundry walls and ceilings are among the places marked.
Small amounts of friable material
Friable asbestos was mainly used in commercial and industrial buildings, but Queensland’s guide says small amounts turned up in homes: old household heaters, stoves and hot water systems, and pipe lagging; sheet vinyl backing; inside fireplaces; in fire doors at the main entry of units and in stairwells; and as sprayed vermiculite insulation in some common areas of unit blocks.
Low density asbestos fibre board is the one to know by touch. It looks like fibro or plasterboard, but the guide says it “can be easily bent in the hand or dented by soft pressure”, was made from the 1950s to the 1970s, and is unlikely in buildings constructed after 1982. It is friable and must only be removed by a class A licensed removalist.
The switchboard
Queensland says switchboard panels and meter boards may contain asbestos, and those made or imported before 1 January 2004 may contain asbestos materials. Queensland also suggests a warning sticker: “Putting up a warning sticker in your switchboard or electrical box that your house may contain asbestos will help alert tradespeople and contractors that asbestos may be found there so they take adequate precautions before any work is carried out safely.”
Finding out for sure
Queensland says a sample examined at a NATA accredited laboratory can confirm whether a material contains asbestos. Taking that sample is itself hazardous, and Queensland says it should only be done by a competent person. A handheld near infrared analyser is not an appropriate test method.
Buying an older home? Under Queensland’s Property Law Regulation 2024, the seller disclosure statement warns that it does not include information about the presence of asbestos, and it says: “The seller does not warrant whether asbestos is present within buildings or improvements on the property.”
Asking a licensed removalist
If something on these lists is damaged or in the way of a renovation, Queensland suggests advice from an asbestos consultant or other competent person, or a laboratory test. A licensed removalist can then look at the material with you and say what removing it would involve.