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Loose-fill asbestos insulation

Description

Classified as friable in every Australian state and territory.

Loose asbestos fibres (usually South African sourced amosite asbestos) pumped from a truck-based hopper via a hose into the ceiling space of the structure. Depth of insulation was around 5-6.5cm (2-2.5”) when complete.    

May be in-situ as the sole insulation or covered with non-ACM material such as batts.

Asbestosfluf (commonly known under the name Mr Fluffy) was a material installed in residential structures between 1968 and the early 1980s.

Brands/products

  • Asbestosfluf

  • Bowsers Asphalt (NSW)

Years of production/use

Mid 1950s to early 1980s

Residential uses

  • Ceiling space

Industrial uses
  • Commercial ceiling space above structures that required consistent temperature control such as cool rooms, freezers, food storage, laboratories etc.
Be aware

Spacings, cracks or perimeter spaces that provide air ingress from ceiling space may provide avenue for respirable asbestos fibres into other areas. Examples: manholes, recessed light fittings and holes over other light fittings, exhaust fans, ventilators (ceiling and wall) as well as damaged or loose cornices, ceiling and wall sheeting.

Loose roof tiles or damaged roofing with no sarking may provide leakage to exterior areas. Roof gutters may hold dust/residue in this regard.

Tween wall vertical cavities accessible from ceiling space may have been intentionally filled, or will contain dust/residue from loose fill material. Sub-floor areas open to those cavities may also be contaminated.

A previous remediation process whereby the material was pumped out is unlikely to have removed 100% of the material. Dust/residue may remain, particularly below non-ACM insulation that may have been installed later.    

Insulated heater banks

Description

A heater bank (aka heat bank) usually consists of multiple heating elements, often in a parallel or series configuration, installed into air conditioning ducts.

ACM sheeting was often installed around the elements as insulation and for fire protection.

Multiple units were commonly installed in air conditioning systems within each floor of multi-storey buildings.

The ACM sheeting type used tended to vary depending on local construction practices:

  • LDB provided greater resistance to humidity and was favoured in the northern areas of Australia.
  • Millboard was more commonly used in southern areas of Australia.
  • Common AC sheeting or compressed sheeting may also be encountered in these structures.

The sheeting may be installed as an interior lining within a constructed (metal) duct housing around the element, or as the actual duct housing attached to frames.

Brands/products
Years of production/use
  • Asbestolux (LDB)
  • Bevelux (LDB)
  • Durabestos
  • Fibrolite
  • Fibrock
  • Millboard
  • Duralux (LDB) (Wunderlich Qld)

    • Duralux is also a current brand name for a fibre board product manufactured in Australia with no asbestos

Prior to 1990

Residential uses
  • Apartment blocks
  • Heating units for ducted air conditioning in houses
  • Converted commercial space for residential use
Industrial uses
  • Commercial offices, showrooms and industrial structures
Be aware

Millboard and LDB are softer and easily damaged.

Since May 2021, LDB is classified as friable in all circumstances under Queensland law.

Twisted asbestos gland packing

Description

A sealing material used to form a tight seal between moving components in steam and hydraulic machinery, valves, spindles and pumps. Asbestos fibres were twisted (and some braided or plaited) and treated with graphite binders and lubricants to improve sealing capabilities. Asbestos gland packing was resistant to high temperatures, chemicals and pressure.

Often an imported product.

Years of production/use

Prior to 2003

Brands/products
  • Crosslite (UK)
  • Phoenix (UK)
  • Bestobell (Bell’s asbestos & Engineering (Aust)
  • Tuxeen
Residential uses

Used by amateur enthusiasts

Industrial uses

Mechanical engineering and maintenance for machinery and plant

Be aware

Removing packing from packaging may release fibres

Asbestos rope

Description

Rope manufactured from woven or braided asbestos fibre. Flexible and able to be manipulated to desired shapes. Used for its thermal conductivity, acid and alkali resistance.

Often used to insulate water and gas pipes to prevent heat loss and for protection from the elements, particularly in exposed or exterior positions, to prevent cracking.

Like woven asbestos cloth, it was used as a protective insulation/seal in electrical components such as power/fuse boxes where there was a risk of arcing or short circuits. Also used on the rim of doors to wood burners and furnaces.

Small radiused ropes were manufactured into sash cords for sash windows or even used as a continuous plugging between the frame and glass.

Brands/products
  • Australian Asbestos Pty Ltd (CSR)
  • Bradford Insulation Industries
  • Super Insulation Products
  • Bell’s Asbestos & Engineering
Years of production/use

Prior to 2003

Residential uses
  • Hot water pipes, wood burners, seal for gas/electric heating appliances
Industrial uses
  • Smaller pressure pipes, centrifugal pumps, compressors, vacuum pumps, boilers, flanges
  • Packing material in pumps and valves to prevent leaks, sometimes combined with other material such as graphite
  • Packing within structural components, such as brackets around pressure pipes
Be aware

Aged rope may deteriorate and become brittle due to temperature fluctuations and environmental effects, and so releasing asbestos fibres.

Sprayed coatings of asbestos contaminated vermiculite

Description

A coating colloquially known as popcorn, due to its popcorn appearance, which contained the mineral raw material vermiculite mixed with gypsum plaster. Exfoliated vermiculite ore has natural fire retardant qualities and is still used industrially. Asbestos was not intentionally included in the spray-on coating.

Vermiculite can be naturally contaminated with asbestos, coexisting in the sub-strata at its mined source. This was the case for a mine in Libby, Montana USA, which supplied a large amount globally in the 20th Century.

Just like the asbestos coatings, it was applied with industrial-sized sprayers as insulation on the underside of roofs and in multi-storey ceiling tween-spaces on underside of floors. Used to achieve building fire-rating and a barrier against condensation, on steel and reinforced concrete beams/columns. 

Occasionally sprayed externally as a façade, such as in front porch areas.  Sprayed onto internal residential ceilings.

While these older coatings are a risk, not all vermiculite is contaminated and should be tested to confirm the presence of asbestos.

Brands/products
  • Gypspray
  • Monokote
  • Zonolite
  • Referenced as vermiculite coating
Years of production/use

1924-1990 (absestos risk)

Residential uses

Ceilings, external facades on houses

Industrial uses

Ceilings, underside of roofs and in multi-storey ceiling tween-spaces  (above suspended ceiling panels) on underside of floors

Be aware

Overspray and splash back often occurred at the site from the equipment, requiring clean-up. In isolated spaces there is likely to be debris around the sprayed area.

Woven asbestos textile for insulation

Description

Woven asbestos fibre, often chrysotile asbestos, that could be installed as a component during manufacture or cut and used ad-hoc in many applications, such as by plumbers and electricians or as industrial insulation in larger scale applications.

Likely to be found as insulation material on pipes to retain heat and protect from environmental elements or as a wiring wrap for short circuit protection.

Used as an insulating barrier in bracketing to control temperature, as a seal in/over joints, and to prevent short circuits.  

Known as cable bandage, woven wrap, wiring wrap or asbestos textile tape.

Years of production/use

Prior to 1990

Brands/products
  • William Chalmers and Son
  • Super Insulation Products
  • Hill Bros
  • Australian Asbestos
  • Bell’s Asbestos and Engineering
  • Bradford Insulation Industries
Residential uses
  • Older wood burner/cooker – seals on doors
  • Water pipes – particularly in colder areas
  • Gas heaters
  • Electrical components – see separate information page
Industrial uses
  • Door seals on drying ovens, furnace doors, electrical switchboxes, choke boxes, relay boxes, contactor boxes, exposed piping.
  • Used for wrapping electrical cable conduit in electrical substations and mains access areas.  
Be aware

Deteriorates over time and when subject to weathering.

May have appearance like canvas webbing or woven string.

Deteriorating textile wrapping subject to moist, dirty conditions may not be clearly distinguishable as a textile material over time.

Sprayed coatings of asbestos

Description

A mix of up to 85% pure asbestos fibre, cement and an inorganic binder. Introduced into Australian construction in the early 1930s.

Applied with industrial-sized sprayers with jets of atomised water to the underside of roofs and in multi-storey ceiling tween-spaces on underside of floors. Used to achieve building fire-rating on steel and reinforced concrete beams/columns, thermal insulation, acoustic correction and as anti-condensation for corrosion resistance. 

Left to dry with rough accumulated surface or tamped (trowelled) smooth. Usually white or grey in colour, may be painted. Advertised as able to be used on any surface, such as metal, masonry or cement. Repeatedly featured in architectural articles in the 1930s for its use as an acoustic correction or sound insulation material for interiors (theatres etc).  Its use was not always an after-thought in construction but incorporated into building design. Sometimes referenced as flocculent. In acoustic applications, such as theatres, it was applied with less hardeners, which resulted in a slightly cushioned surface to touch. Hardeners were incorporated in foot traffic areas such as around staircases and foyers.  

Often colloquially referenced as Limpet, which was a branded product imported from UK which gained a fair market share in Australia through a number of licensed installers.

Post Master General (PMG) internal instructions issued 1968 approved the use of Limpet B2 Hardset and required small warning signs installed to prevent fixings being later applied to steel beams, where installed in telephone and mail exchanges. Asbestos surveyors of these older or former structures should take note.

Another method of application around beams was a ribbed expanded metal box supported and surrounding the beam. The spray coating was applied to the surrounding profile and was a more economical profile for hard-set applications. This method was approved for use in PMG facilities.

Brands/products
  • Bradford Insulation Industries
  • Silbestos (CSR)
  • Asbestospray
  • Limpet (JW Roberts – UK)
  • Limpet LW25
  • Limpet LW26

Toughening coats containing PVA:

  • Limpet TS5
  • Asbestospray Type S

Hard coatings containing Portland cement:

  • Limpet B2 Hardset

Multiple coatings were sometimes applied over the base coating in industrial sites to meet specific requirements:

  • For additional protection to prevent damage or dusting of the surfaces which might be subject to mildly abrasive conditions, toughening coats contained the synthetic polymers PVA or Sodium Silicate SB-112. Suitable for exposed beams.
  • For high impact and abrasion resistance and/or weather resistance, a hard-set coating of AC was applied and usually trowelled to a smooth finish with minimum thickness of 3/16” (4.7mm).

JW Roberts technical data sheets for Limpet sprayed asbestos coatings (circa 1960s) state: …structures protected by Sprayed LIMPET Asbestos achieve the highest possible fire resistance ratings. It should be noted that these ratings are obtained with (Limpet) coatings of minimum applied thicknesses, at densities as low as 9lb/cubic ft (144kg/cubic metre). 

Years of production/use
1930s-1970s
Residential uses
  • Lift machinery/electrical/air conditioning rooms in multi-storey apartments
Industrial uses
  • Tween floor structures, upper rigid structural areas (shielding, columns, beams, purlins, braces and girts), under roofs
  • Warehouses, factories, foundries, government and military structures, power stations, electrical sub-stations, plant/generator rooms, telephone exchanges, ducting etc
  • Offices and public buildings (banks, theatres, hospitals, covered swimming pools), above false or suspended ceiling systems, buildings adjacent to noisy roadways etc
  • Thermal and sound insulation applied to inside and underside of older (1940s-60s) railway rolling stock.
Be aware

Breaks up very easily. Minor disturbance of sprayed ACM coatings can release large quantities of asbestos fibres.

Overspray and splash back often occurred at the site from the equipment, requiring clean-up. In isolated spaces cleanup may have not been undertaken and so likely to be ACM debris around the sprayed area.

These products can contain chrysotile, amosite or crocidolite asbestos types, or a mixture of.

Silbestos, used by Bradford Insulation Industries, contained crocidolite asbestos.

Applying Silbestos sprayed asbestos insulation, July 1960 / photographs by Max Dupain & Associates – State Library NSW

Millboard

Description

Lightweight and flexible insulating sheet for temperatures up to 540°C. Usually white in colour. Used as insulation (keeping heat in) and as a firewall or fire-proof lining for non-liquid fire risks.

Produced in various thicknesses and sheet sizes.

The composition of Hardie’s and Hardie-BI Company Asbestos Millboard sheets was approximately 10 to 15 per cent amosite asbestos and 15 to 20 per cent cement mixed with diatomaceous earth and other inorganic fillers.

CSR advertised a Millboard sheet consisting ‘almost entirely of chrysotile asbestos.’

Some formulations comprised 70-80% asbestos.

Brands/products
  • Hardie’s
  • Hardie-BI
  • CSR
  • Salamander
Years of production/use

First produced in the USA in the early 20th Century. Early imported product may be present in older industrial sites and homes with original structures or product requiring insulation. 

Hardie’s produced this product from 1950 and co-produced it with Bradford Insulation Industries and CSR between 1964-1971.

Residential uses
  • Hot water systems and household wood burners/oil burners/stove area
  • Popular for DIY ad-hoc insulation jobs
Industrial uses
  • Air conditioning ducting around heat elements
  • Advertised for ceilings, floors, partitions, projection boxes, elevator shafts, ovens, oil burners and furnaces
  • Electrical relay box and meter box linings or behind electrical mounting boards, which also may contain asbestos
Be aware

Like other insulating materials, designed to be hand-cut to shape/size on site, which exposed fibres.

Asbestos insulating cements

Description

Insulating cements designed for trowel application after mixing with water to supplement  blocks or pipe sections and seal joints. Also applied where blocks/sections did not suit the site, such as irregular surfaces like valves, flanges and pipe fittings.

Primary application is not as a sealant. Refer Asbestos sealants information page. 

Hardie’s 85% Magnesia and High Temperature cements were manufactured with the same materials as the blocks/section products. 85% Magnesia contained 85-95% Magnesium Carbonate and 10-15% asbestos binder. Usually amosite asbestos with small amount of chrysotile asbestos.

High Temperature cement was composed of 12% amosite asbestos, 44% basic magnesium carbonate and 44% diatomaceous earth.

Brands/products
  • 85% Magnesia Insulating Cement
  • High Temperature Insulating Cement
  • Pabco Insulating Cement
  • Johns Manville (USA)
  • Ruberoid (USA)
  • Zonolite (USA)
Years of production/use

1930s – early 1970s

Residential uses

Used by plumbers to insulate exposed piping, particularly hot water pipes.

‘Pipe chasing’ was commonly used in older residential settings.

Industrial uses

Industrial plant, furnaces, high temp piping

Be aware

Degradation of product from exposure to high temperatures at site.

Industrial combination insulation

Description

Combination insulation was used to provide efficient insulation where temperatures were higher than a single layer product capacity.

Years of production/use

Refer individual product pages:

Brands/products
  • Hardie’s
  • Hardie-BI Co
Residential uses

–

Industrial uses

Larger industrial plant applications

Be aware
Designed to be hand-cut to shape/size on site, which exposed fibres.
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