OLD ASBESTOS HOUSE

Hi
My son and girlfriend have sign to purchuse subject to finance and building inspection an old house.
They have just recieved the report saying that it is sound, and the walls, ceilings and eaves are asbestos, but, where told, as long as they dont destrub it in anyway and keep it painted it would be fine.,
Question is Would you buy a house with asbestos in it when you are not a handyperson in any way. ?
Would taking out kitchen cupboards to put a new kitchen in, destrub it?
Any help on this subject would help this worried old mum

not worth the hassle - walk away and thank the lord you have a get out clause with the building inspection.

And yes, ripping out the old kitchen to put in a new one will more than likely disturb the walls at the very minimum.

I agree, yes you would disturb it. You could perhaps get some quotes on removal and then the replacement of each section. i.e. roof, walls etc.

I am not sure what the rules for asbestos removal are in perth, but in Victoria i believe anyone can take out up to a certain amount (4m2), and double wrap and tape it (2 secure layers of black plastic and duct tape), and then take it to an appropriate land fill site.

Thanks guys
Rules in perth are you are not allowed to remove it, you have to have someone in to do it, but in saying that I bet alot of people do.
Turns out the inside walls are not asbestos just the ceilings and outside.
Anyway they know the pros and cons and are going ahead, as my son keeps telling me they signed subject to the building being sound and it is.
Thanks for your replys

How do you mean not worth it?

We bought a house that was crammed with the stuff.
It's in a great suburb of Brisbane, so we had to make a trade off, old house in good suburb or new house another 15k's out of town.

Our asbestos removal for the whole house cost only 9k. Buy the time they finished, there was nothing left of the house!

It's not worth the risk. You only have to breath in one fibre of the stuff and you're gone.

That basically the same thing with them. It is not close to perth but is in a popular holiday spot oppersite a park next to a river, This house I would say was built years ago as a holiday house, it is a fantastic spot so even if the house falls down the land would just about cover what they owe.

Asbestos is fine if you don't disturb it.
Or run up to it with a circular saw and stick your face in the mist it throws up....

How do the hundreds of thousands of other people in Australia live in asbestos houses?

Then it's totally worth it. Like I said, it's fine. Don't go punching holes in the wall or anything. Get a professional to remove it when needed.

Thats the bit that worrys me, but when I think back we might have been living in a houses years ago with aspestos years ago and didnt know it. (lived in some very old run down house when I first left home)

Well our old house was completely asbestos, most places in WA built pre 1970 will have at least some asbestos. If the material is painted well (eg not flaking or damaged) there's no issue. We put in a new flatpack kitchen and there was no disturbance/damage to the walls. Whenever we had tradies around to do work they never wore any protective gear, and they did a little bit of drilling etc.

So do you only go into or near buildings that are less than 20 years old? That would be very difficult.

The fibres are only loose if you disturb it. Paint it, forget about it. If in future years you wish to renovate then do it properly (no risk).

I know a guy who has a large restoration business in Brisbane. The requirements for him to become a specialist asbestos removalist were horrendous, but he is fully equipped and all his staff trained and qualified. Hi is very professional, is very vocal and opinionated guy, and has shared a number of scenarios on my forum about the proper ways to do things.

Point is, removal and handling asbestos MUST ONLY be done by fully licensed contractors, even small amounts. I'd suggest that whenever any such work is required, they are very very selective as to which contractors they allow to do the job, and be prepared to pay for it.

Ash.

It was totally worth it for us! Our first home was an inner brisbane suburb home and we knew it was in the walls (as were ALL the post war homes in the area from that time). We renovated the kitchen. Took out all the cupboards and totally new kitchen without disturbing the walls. The bathroom was a different story. We were going to tile on top of exisiting walls but needed them removed because they had too much water damage. A bit of a dodge job, our tradesman was total aware of the aesbestos situation and re-did the walls himself anyways. Maybe because he already was smoking 2 packs a day? Would have cost a couple thousand to get someone in properly to do the removal, but the return was absolutely worth it. We painted all of the other walls and was a wonderful first home for us.

I think these old asbestos homes are good deals also, if you get a great price.To me there is no point to continue to paint over it.Live in the house and save up ,put a caravan in the drive way and rip it all out from the whole inside of the house.Then plaster and repaint.
Collect your modern electrical plugs etc along the way.

Theres more money than that though, do you use the old woodwork and old doors?, do you carefully take all the architrave off and strip the old filler and paint?.It really starts to add up in $ and unless you are prepared to do alot of pre clean etc etc then it may sit better on your families peace and just pay the extra 50k for a newer house.

Years ago when I was living in a council flat in London, we had some people invade our house and remove the heater which had asbestos in it. They were dressed like spacemen and I wasn't allowed to return for a while.
I do have an asbestos garage roof now, once when I was sweeping it, my neighbour, (who is a psychiatrist so has a degree in medicine) came around. . I mentioned that I was nervous sweeping it due to the asbestos and she couldn't get away quick enough, even walked backwards.

I would use the asbestos to leverage a lower price. Wouldn't be a deal breaker for me, especially if the house is in a nice location they like. Not like the house is gonna collapse because it has asbestos.
You can pay someone to safely remove it, which would be the best reason to ask for a discount on the price