MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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daughter and son in law were asking me yesterday about their roof tiles which are asbestos. when theyre in the loft they can see white growth/mould-type stuff on the underneath.
told em im pretty sure the tiles are safe unless broken up, but they wondered whether there was still any danger from this stuff, possibly from tile decomposition or the like. sounds like salt or somethings to me, maybe from condensation? thought id ask here tho for a definitive answer.
thanks
Any pics of the outside?
Building tiles are usually made from White Asbestos which is a very benign material in comparison to blue or brown which is the nasty stuff. Unless they are grinding/cutting the stuff and inhaling the dust, there's relatively little risk - generally, left alone isn't a problem, only when removing it and releasing fibres could be a problem. http://www.aic.org.uk/asbestos-related-diseases/
duplicate post
dovebiker, yep s'wat i thought too....
holyzeus, no pics but i could get one if it would mean anything to you? what are you looking for particularly?
No man made slates had enough asbestos in them to be classed as such, we actually called them non asbestos
The earliest ones had a higher content though and would now be quite white in appearance and brittle
If you leave them alone they will be fine
we had them on a 1930's house - they are porous and you get mould on them
non hazardous if not broken up but there are regulations covering disposal if removed - can't just go in a normal skip - has to be enclosed and taken to a specific licensed tip
^ You won't get man made slates from the 30's
You won't get a correct definitive answer on a forum. Many of these asbestos products contain around 10% chrysotile, and they've been around for 100+ years
Chrysotile is the so-called white asbestos and is considered less harmful than the other main types, which have also been used in building products. They're all classed as carcinogenic
Older structures weather and expose asbestos fibres, and they break, etc
If you can see a white deposit then it might contain asbestos and you'll only know by having a [url= http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/managing/sampling.htm ]lab test, they're not too expensive[/url]
As an aside, if you can see the underside of the roof tiles on a house then it would probably benefit from re-roofing to modern standards using a company whose workers are trained to deal with asbestos and dispose of it correctly, but that might be some way down the line to a young couple
Man made slates can contain fibres other than chrysotile, depending on their age.
Lab test is the only way to be sure.
They are however generally a low risk ACM as the fibres are well bonded into the matrix.
Jeff