Advice needed on renovation

Hi everybody

This is my first post here, so I hope I am putting my questions in the right area. My better half and I have just purchased a little two bedroom house to renovate and hopefully sell at a profit in a couple of years. My better half is a carpenter so that helps with keeping costs down but there is a fair bit for us to do that he has no experience with, hence my questions.

Our main problem is that all the walls and ceiling (internally and externally) are asbestos. So it is going to be a massive job to have it all removed so that we can extend and renovate. First I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with having asbestos removed from an entire house and what I might need to know and how to go about it. I have organised a few different asbestos removal companies to give us quotes so we should have a better idea of cost soon. The hardest part I think is going to be organising everything at the same time - we're going to have to move out, cut off the power & water, have the asbestos removed then organise the house to be reclad, plastered etc soon after. Does anyone have any tips? Or if you've been through it, what were the steps you went through?

We're also still debating what exactly we are going to do to the house. We want to sell at a profit so are considering adding wardrobes to all bedrooms, adding a master bedroom, ensuite, enlarging the kitchen, adding a deck out the back & doing landscaping. Does all this sound like it would add value to the house? We bought a cheap house in a more expensive area so we are hoping so. If we add $100k to what we paid for the house we'd come up to the current area average, so I hope we're doing the right thing!

Thanks
Rebecca

You have taken on a mammoth task, something most would steer well clear of.

It may pay to get the asbestos removal quotes and re-cladding before planning and further stages, because of the high costs involved, which in turn may limit your future expenditure.

How do you know ALL the walls and ceiling are asbestos?

I've never seen that, EVER. All the houses I've looked at that were built in the 60's - 80's have asbestos in the bathroom and kitchen only. Some have the horsehair ceilings.

Sorry I completely forgot that I posted this!!

Uncle Arfur, we are just starting to realize what a mammoth task it will be, but we're not too worried at this stage. It is our first house, we had to start somewhere and was all we could afford - we actually were very lucky to purchase a house in an expensive suburb for not much at all. So even if we spend $10k on removing the asbestos, we will still be in front.

Travelbug, we don't know for sure that it is ALL asbestos, although it has been suggested by two different asbestos removalists that it is. We haven't tested it as we're worried about disturbing it, I'm not sure if there is a 'safe' way of testing it that doesn't involve breaking bits off? The substance in the kitchen, bathroom etc looks exactly the same as what is used in the bedrooms and living/dining area.

You dont say how old the house is, which may be a rough guide as (I think) asbestos was phased out in the mid 50's.

Call in licenced asbestos removal experts for quotes they will soon tell you what it is.

You may be able to break down the asbestos removal into stages. The only problem I can see is moving out while the work is being done, but your experts will advise you best.

I believe the house was built in 1978. I have called out two licenced experts so far, both simply looked at it and told me it was asbestos. No-one has gotten back to me with quotes yet, probably as they are all busy in the lead up to Christmas. We thought about doing it in stages, but felt it would be riskier and too difficult as it would require moving in and out several times, rather than having it all done at once.

In over thirty years of being involved in the building trade I've probably seen 10-12 that had fibro clad walls inside and out as well as eaves and K & B ceilings too.
It's not common but there are a few around, usually in the less affluent suburbs.
Most of the older timber framed homes that have fibro on the outside usually have some other sheeting on the inside of the walls and plasterboard on the ceilings
Make sure that some of the walls aren't painted masonite instead. When you tap on them they sound almost identical.
I'd hate for you to get quotes on the whole house being fibro only for part of the house once they start and they end up making a big profit at your expense
I'd do further investigating myself if I was you.
If any of your powerpoints or light switches are mounted on the walls and not skirting or architraves , turn off the power and disconnect them and have a look at the sheeting from the light/switch hole.

Stewie

Hi Bec,

How are you?

There is a guy(s) called Black Stumo Demo, who handle asbestos,

Maybe give them a buzz and ask them to come out and let you know what they think the material is.

Bec, where are you located? If in Sydney give Shane a ring 47739404 or 0428600122. His company does asbestos removal.