Asbestos – Why So Popular?
Asbestos – Why So Popular?
Why is asbestos found everywhere, when people are paying so much attention to asbestos removal? According to Mark Attwood, asbestos was seen by many as a wonder material in the late nineteenth and early to mid twentieth century and played a huge role on the construction booms of the fifties and sixties. We now know of its devastating effect on health, but if we look further, we can see this danger was known right since the beginning of the twentieth century. So if they knew about the horrendous fatal diseases it caused, why did the governing powers give the go ahead to asbestos? Let’s look at its durability, asbestos is extremely hardwearing. This is obviously important in construction. After all, we don’t want a construction crumbling away after a few months! Another thing important in construction is for materials to be heat resistant, and asbestos is the most heat resistant material around. Asbestos is in fact not only heat resistant, but also fire resistant. So its popularity isn’t surprising when you consider its uses as a fire proof coating, lagging and insulation. Its cheapness, though was the number one factor in asbestos being so prevalent in buildings. Asbestos is a natural material found in the ground and quarried very cheaply.
People suspect that the governments didn’t really reveal the massive impact asbestos has on health because of it cheapness and usefulness in construction. It was also a very easy material to blend with other materials. Fabrics, rubber and concrete have all been mixed with asbestos in order to make new products which carry asbestos’s qualities. So, Mark Attwood also told me that being cheap to make, being easily manipulated and found in most continents made it so popular. Sounds to good to be true? Yes, it was too good to be true – asbestos is extremely harmful. Asbestos removal has been embraced since the asbestos ban in 1999. Just as much attention needs to be given to asbestos removal this century as was given putting it in in the 20th century. Asbestos removal, a necessity, doesn’t carry any danger if tackled properly. When carrying out their job, asbestos removal experts will make sure they are keeping the surrounding area completely hazardness-free.