Hi All

I’ve recently set up my new turbo trainer in my garage. I live in a flat built in the 1970’s (1971 I think) so my garage is a separate building, in a row of garages behind the flats with no power, water etc which I think is pretty typical of the time.

This never really occurred to me but two separate people at work have mentioned this now….

It is likely that the garage walls contain asbestos I think? I wouldn’t worry about this in the context of day to day use as obviously I am mainly walking in or out and spending five minutes at a time in there.

However, is there likely to be a risk if I am in there for an hour, and hour and a half a couple of times a week doing intensive exercise on a turbo trainer? 😕

I’m at work but if I remember correctly the walls in the garage are made up of big rectangular concrete blocks sunk into the ground, maybe 6-8 along each wall. There shouldn’t be any reason that they are cracked or crumbling but I’ve never really paid any attention.

Is this something I should be worried about and investigate or am I being a wuss?

I don’t think your being a wuss, you are concerned about potential health benefits being cancelled out by dangerous fibres “possibly” being present in the fabric of the building.

First thing I would do, get the bike off the rollers and get some road miles in, ALTHOUGH I think similar every time I’m passed by a vehicle in the cold and it’s spewing out shit from the exhaust which goes straiht into your lungs.

Secondly, look into getting it tested, maybe local council could come round and take some readings on a meter?
I’d prob say that if its concrete walls it’s almost certainly got a corrugated asbestos roof.

@duggan – I actually wondered about my garage in exactly the same way when I set my turbo up.

I asked a couple of people about it and they thought that if nothing is exposed (within the garage) it surely cannot be any worse than cycling/walking on a road with car fumes surrounding you..

Others are welcome to say this is wrong – I’m no expert on asbestos…

Take photo of the garages and post it. Would help people judge if there is asbestos or not. Corrugated asbestos roofs are common however there are some modular garages that used asbestos walling too I think (pretty sure my neighbours is made of it).

My understanding is that as long as the Asbestos is happily solidly in the walls / roof then it is fine as it stay there – it does not give off any fumes.

If however you are breaking it up then all the dust flies around the air and gets stuck in your lungs.

My only concern would be that some dust would likely have fallen off over time and be sitting on the floor – If you then get a nice big fan then all that starts getting blown around and breathed in.
Is it possible to get it hosed down with a pressure washer.

or for £50 you can send off to a lab and see what the asbestos content is

There you go, I didn’t even consider the fan effect

Thanks for the responses everyone! I’m off work this afternoon so will get some photos up then.

I guess if there’s any doubt than I should give this some serious consideration.

The roof is a metal coloured sheet of (what looks to me like) corrugated iron- could this also contain asbestos then?

Might be worth looking for damp mould too, can’t imagine inhaling large quantities of that is going to be good

Leave the door open when you’re training and setup the turbo outside but under the shelter of the up/over door?
Don’t worry about neighbours extracting the urine, you’re a roadie so already beneath contempt 😉

Nah, corrugated Iron should be ok, it’s the asbestos stuff in corrugated that I think you have to be scared of, sounds to me like prefab concrete blocks with the cheese grater pebbles on, I once propped my GF on one of those coming back from the pub, I went to take my keys out of my jacket and she slid down the wall on her face,

My fault entirely, apparently.

Pretty sure our garage rood contain asbestos – the walls are brick but the corrugated roof sheets look suspect. I don’t really worry about it too much – it’s not crumbling or breaking up. When I use the turbo, the door is wide open and the bike near the front…more because I get really hot and sweaty on it.

My understanding is that as long as the Asbestos is happily solidly in the walls / roof then it is fine as it stay there – it does not give off any fumes.

This.

Any dust falling off it will be the concrete. Think of it like a woolly jumper that you’ve got muddy and let dry. Give it a shake and all that comes off is the mud, not the wool.

Unless you’re breaking up the asbestos it won’t be an issue. Think about how many homes are riddled with the stuff (Artex ceilings, plasterboard, insulation, oven gloves), but deaths from mesothelioma are confined to those who either worked in the factories (or lived near by), or worked in construction/demolition. A single exposure might be unlucky and give you problems, but you’re not even likely to suffer that)

On the other hand dust is never good for your lungs (Silicosis is similar to Mesothelioma but caused by silica particles rather than asbestos fibers).

Secondly, look into getting it tested, maybe local council could come round and take some readings on a meter?
I’d prob say that if its concrete walls it’s almost certainly got a corrugated asbestos roof.

Council won’t be interested (unless you try and dump it then they’ll suddenly be very interested). And you can’t test it on any sort of air meter. Testing is done by sending a sample off to a laboratory who look at the fibers under a microscope.

Testing is/was about £15 per sample plus £20 for the job (because most customers send in 10’s at a time).

Source: used to work in a dust/particle testing laboratory

thisisnotaspoon says it all. Abestos containing products need to be disturbed in some way for the dangerous fibres (fibres, not fumes) to be exposed. There are also different types of asbestos, used in different types of building materials from pipe lagging to insulation to concrete. All have differing health effects but none are particularly pleasant. At all.

Generally speaking, unless you are going around punching big holes in your garage then it is unlikely you have anything to worry about. You could of course get a certified person to check whether the garage is indeed asbestos but that will obviously cost money to do.

thisisnotaspoon has just about covered it.

White Asbestos fibres were used as a reinforcing material in concrete – it allows things to be made much thinner (such as roofing sheets or water tanks) than with plan concrete.

Left alone the Asbestos is harmless, it doesn’t give off fumes – the only issue is breathing in the dust whilst working with it (ie – smashing it up)

TBH the best thing you could do is to sweep/hoover your garage out then paint every surface with cheap white emulsion – this will seal any dust particles and make the whole place a lot cleaner.

There is a lot of fear (and bullsh*t) surrounding asbestos – while the particles of all forms of asbestos can be carcinogenic if inhaled, the Chrysotile (white) asbestos (used in most building applications) is generally regarded as the least harmful, whereas Crocidolite is probably the most lethal – this was often used when making things like Gaskets.

Source – got a material science/Engineering degree.

Coincidentally I’ve just got back the results from testing my corrugated lean-to roof for asbestos.

I used Pass UK.

Left undisturbed there doesn’t appear to be any risk of fibre release, but now the roof has started to leak I wanted to know if it was a DIY disposal job or if the experts needed to be called.

My roof looked suspect to me so I was surprised (and relieved) when the test came back negative.

If you want to use it and your worried used paint everything walls floor ceiling in garage floor paint job done and it’s seals the surface ta da.

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