Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jun 04, 2012 10:19 am Hi there, Just wondering if there is anyone in Victoria that has found asbestos in their older style carpet underlay? My husband and I bought a house 12 months ago which dates to the 50's - we ripped up all the carpet before we moved in and had the boards polished. The carpet we removed was installed in the 90's, so I'm not really worried about that but I have just come across a strip of old carpet underneath our wardrobe complete with suspicious looking hair felt underlay. I phoned a couple of inspection/testing companies and got conflicting responses from the places I called - one said they'd never seen it in Victoria (an actual NATA certified lab), the other said they had but it was rare and the third said it was present in 90% of cases! I would be included to believe the former but was just interested in what others experiences were. I can't help but worry, we have 8mth old twins in the house that if it were asbestos, may have been exposed. I have someone coming out to test tomorrow to be sure. Re: Asbestos in Carpet Underlay 2Jun 04, 2012 10:57 am If I was inquiring about old carpet underlay, which I assume is the old 'underfelt' I would have rang a reputable carpet company or carpet layer, or perhaps carefully cut a piece off and taken it to them. A close-up picture would help but I think you have nothing to worry about. Arfur Re: Asbestos in Carpet Underlay 3Jun 04, 2012 11:24 am Thanks for your reply. I really hope I don't have anything to worry about. This is a photo of it Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Uploaded with ImageShack.us I forwarded it to my father (he's a builder) and he thinks it look suspect. Re: Asbestos in Carpet Underlay 4Jun 04, 2012 11:59 am It looks like the old underfelt which is very similar the stuff they use to line hanging baskets, old mattresses etc, real coarse 'hairy' stuff. Most asbestos products Ive seen are made from a finer powdered asbestos, which becomes air-borne when moved/worked on, hence being inhaled by the poor devils it eventually killed. Arfur Re: Asbestos in Carpet Underlay 5Jun 04, 2012 5:30 pm Thanks for taking the time to look, in all likelihood its nothing but I just have James Hardie's recycling of hessian bags into carpet underlay in the back of my mind... Assume most of it was laid in WA homes but still, better to be sure I think! Re: Asbestos in Carpet Underlay 6Jun 06, 2012 5:03 pm rb81 James Hardie's recycling of hessian bags into carpet underlay in the back of my mind... Assume most of it was laid in WA homes but still, better to be sure I think! This is what I heard also, the hessian only had asbestos contamination due to the fact that it was use to transport the asbestos. You can never tell just by looking at it, if your brave you could snip a peice off with some scissors and burn it? Asbestos will not burn. Asbestos is around us all the time we just don't think of it very often. Old corrigated roofs, brake pads only a few years back, to name a few. Ever wondered what all that nice brake dust around your rims contained? Well if it was was before 2003 approx it contained asbestos. Re: Asbestos in Carpet Underlay 7Jun 06, 2012 6:09 pm Hi Jetson, in the end I did get brave and remove a sample myself - I dropped it in to a lab for analysis yesterday so I should know for sure tomorrow or Friday latest. Fingers crossed our underlay was one of the many that weren't made from the contaminated hessian. You are quite right about asbestos being around us all the time, it's very hard to avoid completely as so many things were made from the awful stuff! Hi l plan to install a self adhesive vinyl plank floor. l first need to attach masonite boards underlay to by plywood subfloor of my house. What size nails and how many… 0 8370 Jimbo73 I would use heaps of adhesive on each sheet and screw rather than nail. use as many as you like cheers Simeon 1 4064 What you are looking at is fibrous plaster, true gypsum, it is cast on horizontal beds with fibers included to give strength. I has no Asbestos in it. Houses before 1985… 2 7136 |