Roof safety · how to identify it
Asbestos in your roof: what it looks like, and is it safe?
An asbestos “Super 6” fibro roof is a low-pitch, mouldy black-and-white cement-sheet roof with wide ~6-inch corrugations, and it looks nothing like the grey loose-fill insulation we pump in. Don’t cut, drill or disturb it; we can still insulate safely underneath it.
How to identify it
What an asbestos roof looks like.
The common asbestos roof is the “Super 6” profile, a hard cement sheet with wide corrugations about 6 inches (150mm) across. There’s a less common “Mini-orb” profile with corrugations about 3 inches across.
- Almost never painted from new, so it weathers to a distinctive mouldy black-and-white finish.
- Usually low-pitch, on smaller roofs up to about 120m², often with gable ends.
- The sheets are brittle and heavy, so they can't be walked on or replaced like a tile.
- It's a hard cement sheet, not a soft material, nothing like the grey cellulose we pump in.
The low pitch and that black mould make these roofs extremely hot in summer, which is exactly why insulating under them is worth doing.
The common worry, answered
Our cellulose insulation contains no asbestos.
People sometimes hear “fibre” and worry. Let me be clear: our cellulose is recycled paper treated with borax and boric acid, made to the Australian Standard AS/NZS 4859.1 at our own factory. There’s no asbestos and no formaldehyde in it. Asbestos was a hard, banned cement-sheet product; our insulation is a soft recycled-paper blanket. They have nothing in common. Here’s exactly what’s in our cellulose.
Important: your safety
What you must never do to an asbestos roof.
Asbestos is banned in Australia because the fibres get into your lungs and cause cancer. A sound asbestos roof that’s keeping the water out is doing its job. The danger is disturbing it.
- Never sand, grind, cut or drill it, because that releases the fibres. (So no cutting holes for roof vents or skylights.)
- Don't collect drinking water off an asbestos roof.
- Don't walk on or try to move the sheets, as they're brittle and need two-person handling by people who know what they're doing.
- Removal or replacement is a job for a licensed asbestos removalist; in Queensland a licence is required to remove more than 10m² of non-friable asbestos.
Authoritative guidance: asbestos.gov.au (the national Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency), WorkSafe Queensland, and Safe Work Australia.
How we work with it
How we insulate under an asbestos roof, without disturbing it.
These are the roofs batt companies say can’t be insulated. We can, by pumping cellulose in from underneath, lifting a single sheet for access (even if there’s no manhole), without cutting, drilling or breaking the asbestos. The cellulose goes in as a seamless blanket from below, so the sheets are never disturbed.
If your asbestos roof has a leak, it’s most often a cracked ridge cap or the screws starting to weep (the original tar on them dries and cracks over the years). Tar-backed aluminium foil tape is a good fix, better than silicone, which tends to peel off with the top layer of fibres. As always, no cutting or grinding.
See the other roofs we insulate that others say can’t be done →Our full training & safety standards →
Did this help you understand your roof? A review means a lot.
A quick honest review genuinely helps a small family business, and helps the next person decide. Thank you.