Asbestos in old caravans

[millard1399]

G'day All,

I thought it would be useful to have a thread in this Techo Section relating to asbestos in old caravans.

Asbestos may be found in caravans built in the 1970s (as covered by this forum), but may also be found in caravans built in any other years. Chrysotile-white asbestos was not completely banned until about 2003 or 2004, so it is possible to find this type of asbestos in various products manufactured up to that time period.

People restoring or renovating old caravans should be aware of the possibility of asbestos being present, and take all necessary precautions before attempting to carry out any work on the van.

Sealants: Recently, a forum member notified me that he'd had a sample of the old sealant on his van tested, and the results came back as being positive for containing asbestos. The lab man told the forum member that the asbestos was bonded into the mastic and furthermore this was very common practice for all sealants and putties of this era.

Floor tiles: The original floor tiles will commonly have a percentage of asbestos in them to give the hard-wearing qualities that these tiles have.

Heat insulation: Often there is a heat shield at the back of the stove top (or gas burner stove). The heat shield is a metal cover, but behind the metal cover there may be a small sheet of "fibro-type" material which is likely to contain asbestos.

Fridge insulation: If the fridge in the van is an old fridge, it's possible the insulation used within the shell of the fridge body may contain asbestos.

Brake linings (shoes): If the brake linings are the original ones, or are at least "old", it's almost certain they will contain asbestos.


Please feel free to add comments about other possible locations in these old vans where asbestos might be found.

cheers,
Al.

[Deleted]

Great thread, I myself never considered the fact the sealant may have asbestos in it, and to think of the amount I breathed in while grinding it off....

While unrelated, what's the chances the paint on old vans being lead based

[Deleted]

I am wondering if the white fluffy type stuff that is in the bottom of my gas oven in asbestos? I'm a bit scared to think the sealant has it in it, I've been chipping away at that all week

[ForumMod]

restyledvintage, you should be suspicious of any appliances made before the 1980s. Asbestos was a very good heat insulating material, so it's quite likely the fluffy stuff you're referring to contains asbestos. If in doubt, don't disturb it.

cheers,
Al.

[Sharky]

Great I wish I knew this when I did a late 70's van reno a few years back. I took the old silicon off with a wire brush in the drill. Turned it to dust and yep breathed it in.

[peter92]

Thanks Al.
I was wire brushing the grey mastic type stuff off my roof of our 74 franklin
After taking the ali strip off the top of the van i noticed a Yellow type of crystallisation on top of the mastic/putty
So if any one know what it is/was please let me know
Im glad Al put this up as its one thing i never even new or thought of
Regards Peter

[matt]

Thanks for that info Al. We came across some of what looked like white asbestos behind the stove splashback while re doing it.

On Asbestos and breathing it in. I also work as a floorsander and we often come across asbestos type vinyl flooring from the 1950-70s homes in particular. If you want to remove anything that looks suss yourself use a bit of common sense and you should be right.

After speaking to Asbestos removalists on various jobs there were a couple of things that stuck in my mind....

• If its fluffy no touchy! (leave that one to a pro)
• Use a 50/50 mix of PVA glue and water and thoroughly spray the suspect material all over to prevent fibres breaking off on removal. Wait for it to dry for 24 hours, then remove. Re spray the material with the mix and double bag, then dispose of it in the builders waste or asbestos section of your local tip.
• To have asbestos trigger Mesothelioma it needs to be inhaled as individual fibres. (So those that are worried about grinding off the sealant may be all right. It is usually the fine individual fibres, from cutting or breaking panels, that does the damage, as far as they know.) The asbestos in things like rubber based sealants are less risky as the fibres are bonded with the rubber. The dust isn’t small enough.
• Wear a PV2 Respirator (about $50 from the hardware or safety shops with two cartridges) and disposable paper overalls when removing suspect materials

Hope this helps.

Matt

[Deleted]

Regarding the asbestos in vinyl tiles, I remember during the early 1970's when I worked in ther NSW CSR plant manufacturing tiles.
I used to work (for short time) in the hopper where the components were added. I remember very well not being informed about the dangers of asbestos and I handled open bags of asbestos without any protection provided, not to mention responsibility of the company to provide clean protective working clothes.
My lungs are clean and I do not know if there were any fatalities due to the exposure of this type of asbestos on the vinyl tiles.
In any case now, renovating my Franklin which does not have vinyl tiles I still used a mask.

[Chippyjoe]

Hi, i have an old caravan Circa 1962. I have discovered some kind of insulation batts in the ceiling which i suspect are asbestos.
They are an off white colour and i can't find images on google of anything quite the same - the closest i can see is the old mr fluffy loose fill! However they are more like batts than loose fill... does anyone have any information like where to test them etc...?
When i got the van there were balls of fluff everywhere from birds nesting. Then after i had cleaned it i discovered it came from in the ceiling! So i have already been exposed!!
I was looking forward to the reno but now I'm creeped out by asbestos and thinking if just getting rid of the van

[Deleted]

Have a look this: racqliving.com.au/caravanning/caravans-fatal-flaws/
If in doubt, call the experts.
Take care.

[Mustang]

Good advice Gitano.
I have done about 7 x houses from the age of 20 , so I suppose I've had a dose some where?

[78466noM]

I knew about the fibro sheeting old stoves and fridges but not the mastic mine also got hit with the wire brush so if I ever have to do it again I will still use the wire brush to clean it up after getting as much as I can off carefully with a scrapper and a wet sponge but the wire brush will be in a air drill or grinder with a hose running water onto it and I will be in disposable overalls and a good quality heavy duty mask working on a plastic sheet.Though so far I don't have a need to do another one as I think this one should work well for us and out live me if looked after properly.

[LGT]

I spent a half hour today removing old lino off the step well into my 78 Viscount. Sure enough there was an underlay left after peeling off the lino. No doubt this was asbestos. I donned a mask and removed it but if I had a larger area to do I would have left it alone as I will do with the van floor. I will lay my new floor over the old lino.