Young couple's ordeal exposes hidden danger in home renovation trend: 'Anxious'
Shai Howland and Nathan Greenshields recently bought an old home in South Australia and were spending their weekend pulling off old wallpaper when they suddenly realised they were putting themselves at serious risk.
"I had mentioned to my partner about the amount of dust in the room which prompted him to research the wallpaper we were taking down," Shai told Yahoo News, recalling the moment when the penny dropped.
"He looked up whether there was anything to be cautious about when taking down old wallpaper. It was then he found that there was a likely chance the wallpaper and adhesive had been made using asbestos."
The moment of revelation was captured on camera, with the pair wearing shorts and tops without any protective clothing or masks on at the time.
"We had already ripped sheets down, we were immediately concerned we had now disturbed the particles, and were exposed without any protective clothing," Shai said, saying it was a harsh lesson about "being non-diligent".
"Anxiety ... and a lot of asbestos Google searches later, we've learnt our lesson."
Asbestos was commonly used in building materials throughout the 1900s and it was added to wallpaper because of its durability and fire-resistance, particularly in vinyl wallpaper used in rooms that got hot, such as kitchens and bathrooms.
It is "highly likely" homes built in South Australia before the mid-1980s include asbestos-containing materials, according to the state's SafeWork website.
In New South Wales, 1 in 3 homes constructed between 1945 and 1990 are estimated to contain asbestos, and in Queensland it's not any better — with asbestos used as a binding product for a wide range of building materials in a 40-year period during the century.
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Asbestos can be found in walls, roofs, electrical boxes, fences, bathrooms, kitchens, wallpaper and under floors, and while the law does not require homeowners to have licences to remove asbestos-containing materials, the risk to health is huge. Disturbing materials that contain asbestos can result in the dusty particles contaminating a property and, when breathed in, can cause serious or even fatal diseases such as lung cancer or asbestosis. A short period of exposure is all it takes.
This was the case for Steve Wilcockson who was exposed to asbestos for just a few weeks when he was 14. The Sydney man later died aged 72 after developing mesothelioma, an aggressive form of cancer linked to asbestos inhalation.
While many Aussies taking part in online home renovation trends are trying to update their homes on a budget, the safest course of action is to get an expert for asbestos removal. Or, at the very least, to identify if their home has asbestos in it before rolling up their sleeves.
It can be assumed that asbestos is in wallpaper when it has flexible curls in the upper corners or it looks to have a vinyl or plastic coating with a paper backing. Markers also include the property being built before 1980 or the wallpaper's manufacturing label is dated between the known decades asbestos was commonly in use.
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