How to identify asbestos: A guide for Australian homes

Asbestos can be hard to spot, especially when it’s hidden inside walls, ceilings, floor layers, roof spaces, or old building products. For Australian homeowners, the safest starting point is simple: If your home was built or renovated before the early 1990s, assume asbestos may be present.

Australia banned the use, sale, and import of asbestos in 2003, but many older homes can still contain the hazardous material. This guide explains where it’s commonly found, what warning signs to look for, and when to get help.

What is asbestos?

Fine white fibres along the edge of a grey building material sample (Source: iStock)

Asbestos is a group of naturally occurring mineral fibres once used in thousands of building and industrial products. It was popular because it was strong, heat-resistant, chemical-resistant, and useful for insulation.

In Australian homes, the most common asbestos types were:

Why is asbestos dangerous?

Asbestos is most dangerous when it’s disturbed. Cutting, drilling, sanding, scraping, breaking, pressure washing, or demolishing asbestos-containing materials can release microscopic fibres into the air.

If inhaled, these fibres can lodge in the lungs and contribute to serious diseases such as asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma, and pleural disease.

Undamaged, sealed asbestos that is left alone may pose a lower immediate risk, but it should still be monitored and managed carefully.

Where is asbestos commonly found in Australian homes?

Broken vinyl flooring and cracked underlayer detail (Source: iStock)

Asbestos was used in many building materials, so it can appear in more places than homeowners expect. Here are the main areas to check:

• Roof and exterior

• Walls and cladding

• Bathrooms and laundries

• Kitchens

• Floors

• Ceilings

• Fencing and garden areas

• Pipes and insulation

• Electrical areas

What are the steps to identifying home asbestos?

Older house cladding showing a small broken section near a seam (Source: iStock)

Step 1: Check the age of your home

Start with the property’s age. If your home was built or renovated before 1990, there’s a higher chance that asbestos-containing materials were used. If work was done before the 2003 national ban, asbestos may still be possible, especially if older stock or existing materials were reused.

Check:

• Building records

• Renovation history

• Council documents

• Old receipts or product labels

• Previous asbestos reports

• Strata or body corporate records, if applicable

If you don’t know when a material was installed, treat it as suspicious.

Step 2: Look for common visual clues

Weathered pipe insulation with frayed fibrous material near gauges (Source: iStock)

You can’t confirm asbestos by sight alone, but some materials are more suspicious than others.

Look for:

• Grey, bluish-grey, or off-white cement-like sheets

• Corrugated roofing

• Flat wall panels in wet areas

• Stippled or textured ceiling coatings

• Sheet flooring with backing layers

• Rough or fibrous-looking old insulation

• Old switchboard backing panels

Step 3: Inspect high-risk areas without touching them

Walk around the home and note any suspicious materials. Take photos if it is safe to do so, but don’t touch, scrape, pull, lift, or break anything. If you find damaged material, keep the area clear and avoid sweeping or vacuuming nearby dust.

Step 4: Check whether the material is bonded or friable

Wavy cement roofing sheets showing age and exterior wear (Source: iStock)

Asbestos-containing materials are often described as either bonded or friable.

Friable asbestos is more dangerous because fibres can become airborne more easily. If you suspect friable asbestos, do not touch it.

Step 5: Get an asbestos assessment

A licensed asbestos assessor or competent asbestos removalist can inspect suspicious materials, identify likely asbestos-containing products, arrange testing, and advise what to do next.

An assessment is especially important if:

• You’re planning renovations or demolition

• The material is damaged or deteriorating

• The area is in a bathroom, laundry, roof, or ceiling cavity

• You’re buying or selling an older home

• You need a written report for compliance or peace of mind

• You’re unsure whether the material is friable or bonded

Safe Work Australia recognises licensed asbestos assessors for work such as air monitoring and clearance certificates in certain asbestos removal situations.

Step 6: Confirm with laboratory testing

The only way to know for sure if a material contains asbestos is laboratory testing. An expert can safely take a sample and send it to an accredited lab.

Avoid DIY sampling unless you are legally allowed to do so in your state or territory and understand the safety requirements. Sampling can disturb fibres if done incorrectly, so hiring a professional is usually the safest option.

Can you remove asbestos yourself?

Rules vary by state and territory, but asbestos removal is tightly regulated. In NSW, for example, licensed asbestos services must be used for friable asbestos and for areas of non-friable asbestos exceeding 10 square metres. SafeWork NSW also recommends them for any amount of non-friable asbestos because of the risks involved.

A Class A removalist can remove all types of asbestos, while a Class B removalist can remove non-friable asbestos only.

For homeowners, the safest approach is to avoid DIY asbestos removal, especially if the material is damaged, hard to access, or near living areas.

Identify and remove asbestos safely with Airtasker

Identifying asbestos is not about taking risks or guessing from photos. It’s about knowing where asbestos is commonly found, recognising suspicious materials, and getting professional testing before anything is disturbed.

If your home is older, damaged, or in need of renovation, you can book a reliable Tasker to inspect, test, and safely remove asbestos-containing materials.