Is Asbestos In Carpet Underlay

Is my carpet underfelt likely to contain dangerous asbestos fibres.

Is asbestos in carpet underlay.

Quoting from asbestos in carpet underlay from the western australia doh there is a slight possibility that some older hair felt style underlay manufactured and installed prior to the early 1970s may have incorporated material sourced from hessian bags that were used to transport raw asbestos from mine sites to processing plants. Asbestos was also used in the adhesive to glue down the carpet underlay this is usually a black bitumous material with non friable asbestos. Asbestos ceilings can be found in many forms which include. Precautions should always be taken when disturbing or removing old carpet and underlay.

The people most at risk from the asbestos fibres in hessian bags are those who worked in the recycling environment. No this is very unlikely. Asbestos is dangerous when disturbed but if it s used in an underlay the carpet should prevent it from being damaged. Carpet underlay made and installed since the mid 1970s was generally made from synthetic or natural materials that would not contain or have been contaminated with asbestos.

Recent reports on asbestos carpet underlay have indicated that carpet underlay may be contaminated with asbestos. There s no evidence to show that vacuuming a carpet would release asbestos fibres so don t worry if you ve done this in the past. Asbestos containing hessian bags were re used in some carpet underlay these may contain friable asbestos. Also asbestos was used in the adhesive to glue down the carpet underlay which is usually a black bitumous material.

The source of the asbestos carpet underlay is from recycling of hessian bags used to transport material from wittenoom to perth in the 1960 s and 70 s. Asbestos in carpet underlay frequently asked questions q.