Most people worry about asbestos when they’re eyeing off the roof or planning an internal renovation, but plenty of asbestos in older Australian properties sits entirely outdoors. Booking an Asbestos Inspection in Sydney often starts with exactly this blind spot, homeowners focus on the house and forget the fences, garages, sheds, and even garden beds sitting just outside it. If your property was built or last updated before 1990, it’s worth extending your suspicion beyond the house itself and out into the yard.
Can My Fence Contain Asbestos?
Yes, and this is one of the more commonly identified outdoor sources. NSW Government’s asbestos product database specifically lists fences among the categories with multiple asbestos-containing products historically used in this application, both flat and corrugated asbestos cement panels.
How Do I Know If My Fence Is Asbestos?
The strongest clue is age, corrugated or flat cement fencing installed before the mid-1980s, sometimes under the branded name “Super Six,” carries a genuine likelihood of asbestos content. Visually, it’s very difficult to distinguish from later asbestos-free cement fencing products, so while age and general condition can guide your suspicion, only laboratory testing can confirm what a specific fence actually contains.
Do Old Garden Sheds Contain Asbestos?
Often, yes. Sheds were frequently built entirely from asbestos cement sheeting, both for walls and roofing, since it was a cheap, durable, and fire-resistant option for a standalone structure. Because sheds are usually seen as secondary, low-priority buildings, they’re commonly overlooked entirely when homeowners think about asbestos risk on their property.
Can Garage Walls Contain Asbestos?
Yes, for the same reasons as sheds. Older garages, whether attached to the home or freestanding, were commonly constructed using asbestos cement sheeting for external and sometimes internal walls, making them just as relevant to check as the main house itself.
Can Asbestos Be Found in Eaves?
Yes, eaves are consistently identified as one of the most common asbestos locations on a property, both under the main roofline and around outbuildings like garages and sheds. The material’s fire resistance and durability made it a standard choice for this application across nearly every housing style built before the ban.
Can Asbestos Be Found in Outdoor Cladding?
Yes, external wall cladding on the main house, as well as garages, sheds, and other outbuildings, was very commonly made from asbestos cement sheeting. This is often one of the largest single areas of asbestos-containing material on an older property simply due to the surface area involved.
Do Old Water Pipes Contain Asbestos?
Yes, asbestos cement was a standard material for water supply and stormwater pipes for decades, and a significant amount of this infrastructure remains buried underground on older properties today. Landscaping, garden renovations, or plumbing work on a pre-1990 property should factor in the possibility of hitting these pipes, since they’re easy to forget about simply because they’re out of sight.
Can Asbestos Be Found in Gutters and Downpipes?
Yes, some older guttering systems, particularly box gutters built into a roofline, were manufactured from asbestos cement, and asbestos cement downpipes remain in place on many properties, sometimes running along an exterior wall before disappearing underground. Metal gutters and downpipes are not themselves an asbestos product, though the roofing and fascia they’re attached to may still be.
Do Old Garages Contain Asbestos?
Yes, in addition to wall sheeting, older garages can contain asbestos in roofing, eaves, and sometimes flooring or lining materials, particularly if the structure hasn’t been updated since before the 1990s. A freestanding garage is frequently just as likely, sometimes more likely, to contain original, undisturbed asbestos materials as the main house, simply because outbuildings are renovated far less often.
Can Asbestos Be Found in Garden Products?
Yes, and this is a genuinely overlooked category. NSW Government’s asbestos product database specifically lists gardens, yards, and garden accessories as a category with multiple historical asbestos-containing products, including compressed cement garden furniture, planter bowls, flower pots, and form work used for garden beds, sometimes buried as off-cuts from other building work around the property. Vermiculite is a further consideration, while modern horticultural vermiculite sold today is not an asbestos product, vermiculite mined before 1990 was sometimes contaminated with asbestos and occasionally ended up in older potting mixes and soil conditioners, so very old, unlabelled garden products are worth treating with some caution.
Check the Whole Property, Not Just the House
It’s easy to focus asbestos concerns entirely on the main dwelling, but fences, sheds, garages, eaves, and even garden beds on an older property deserve the same level of caution. Asbestos Removal Sydney professionals frequently find that outdoor structures, precisely because they’re renovated far less often than the house itself, still contain original asbestos materials decades later. Before any landscaping, fence replacement, or outbuilding renovation, it’s worth extending your inspection beyond the house and across the entire block.
Get Your Whole Property Assessed
From the fence line to the garage roof, our licensed team can inspect every outdoor area of your property and provide clear, accurate results before you start any outdoor project. Contact us today to book a full property inspection.
