Fibro houses?

R

Roz

Hi all,
I have been reading the posts on the forum and
learning heaps. Thanks everyone, the forum is great.
I am also looking at buying a cheap house
(say up to 100K) in a regional area of Qld. The couple
I have come across are fibro houses. And I read somewhere
that fibro houses require more maintenance. Does anyone
have any experience with owning and renting fibro houses
either negative or positive?
Roz.
 
I would tend to think that a Fibro House requires similar maintenance to a Weatherboard house, the biggest factor of which will be repainting regularly if you wish to keep it looking "good". On the plus side, fibro does not rot unlike Timber. On the negative side, fibro can mask rotting timber behind it.

I would suspect a Fibro house is less insulated than the equivalent Weatherboard, which might make it colder at night and hotter of a day? Just a suspicion, not a known fact.

Fibro is relatively brittle (depending on the manufacture) so it is relatively easy to knock a hole into Fibro compared to Weatherboards.

Aesthetically, however, I would say that most people would prefer a Weatherboard house over a Fibro house. They have more "quaintness" about them.
 
Hi Roz,

unfortunately I haven't owned any fibro homes, but a friend has & the basic principles are the same as per any other home, you need to ensure the structure is sound & all the basic services. In terms of maintenance he has indicated that it is very similar to ordinary weatherboard homes... by the way, he did indicate that he did use some acrylic like render finish over the top of the fibro & it came up a treat, looked good & that acrylic made the home look rendered (also would strengthen the fibro sheets & as the acrylic doesn't need painting, exteririor maintenance would be substantially reduced)...

I hope this helps...

Cheers,

MannyB.
 
Fibro pros and cons

If you use a good quality paint to start with, upkeep on a fibro house isn't too labour intensive - a good wash down every now and again. Usually more work on keeping any timber trim up to scratch.

We had our place clad a few years back, now we wish we hadn't -locked in to the one "look", whereas, we could have come up with endless variations if we'd left it fibro.

Probably not the best insulator in a cold climate though.

Also, if it's damaged, repairs could be a problem given you have to avoid handling the true asbestos product or breathing dust etc.

I think there's a bit of a public housing stigma attached to this product, and it's recent variations, which is a shame. Dollar-wise it's quite cost effective compared with brick veneer.
 
fibro homes

Hello Roz
I agree with Wendy regarding good quality paint but make sure it is acrylic as enamels and turps based paints can blister in wet weather.
Maintainence is low and a brush down and a coat of acrilic paint every 4 to 5 years works fine.
The main thing to be careful of is if the house has a fibro roof, these are a big problem as hail can destroy them and disposal is costly as they are asbestos and strict guide lines apply. Check with the local council and a plumber.

Regards

Bryan
 
G'day

Regarding removal of asbestos:

I have just had two houses de-cladded, and neither house cost more than $2,000 to remove and dispose of the asbestos cement sheet material.

However, underneath are the original weatherboards, intact and in good condition - except - for the hundreds of timber batons nailed to the weatherboards which the sheeting was fixed to.

Which means 'No More Gaps' into every hole after pulling the nail studded batons off!!!

The end result, however, is a well preserved weatherboard in close to original condition, full of charm and olde worlde atmosphere!

Happy renovating!

Kristine
 
Hi

I own a very well paying fibro house so would like to keep it in good nick. I like Manny's friend use of an acrylic render like paint which i presume has a textured finish.

How long should this last ? and

What is it like to paint over when the time comes?

Cathy
 
Dear Kristine,

Why would you de-cladd a property?

Whilst I prefer low maintenance brick properties, all that I have read and been advised is that vinyl cladding eliminates the need for external painting and thereby substantially reduces the maintenance costs. Thereby being a better property than straight fibro.

Did you de-cladd just to remove the asbestos?

Cheers,

Sunstone.
 
Hi Sunstone

The cladding was 'faux brick', which is a pressed sand brick shape on an asbestos cement sheeting.

The first house was a yellow-brown colour, very dingy, although in perfect condition even though it was clad in 1972. I had briefly considered rendering over it, but all the windows were different types including louvres, so I removed it for a variety of reasons.

The 'medical centre' house was a white brick, also in perfect condition, but I noticed that the nails holding the sheeting on were standing proud in some areas, and again the windows (casement timber) weren't what I wanted for commercial use (powder coated aluminium awning).

Weatherboard houses are coming back into fashion, and are easy to decorate with fretwork, different paint etc, whereas the brick presentation tends to be a bit boring.

These houses were clad in the early 1970's, when paint products were still largely oil based and houses needed exterior painting every 5 to 10 years, depending on the aspect of the house. Modern acrylic eg Solargard, are guaranteed for 10 years and are much less work to maintain and repaint.

Even though I'm physically sanding every board it's really not such a big job (!!!) and the transformation is amazing. I'd be happy to buy more clad houses even if the boards weren't still there, and would certainly render the cement if it was the flat sheet type.

The insulation factor is nominal. It's more beneficial to line the eaves and seal the room vents than to try and estimate the R factor of a layer of 5mm cement sheet.

Vinyl wrap is slightly more aesthetically appealing without the disposal restrictions should you decide to 'peel' it off the house.

Cheers

Kristine
 
Thanks everyone, your help has been great as usual.
You comments have given me the confidence to keep
going on this one.
Roz.
 
Kristine.. said:
G'day

Regarding removal of asbestos:

I have just had two houses de-cladded, and neither house cost more than $2,000 to remove and dispose of the asbestos cement sheet material.

However, underneath are the original weatherboards, intact and in good condition - except - for the hundreds of timber batons nailed to the weatherboards which the sheeting was fixed to.

Which means 'No More Gaps' into every hole after pulling the nail studded batons off!!!

The end result, however, is a well preserved weatherboard in close to original condition, full of charm and olde worlde atmosphere!

Happy renovating!

Kristine
Click to expand...

hi kristine i know this is an old post but if ur still out there may i ask who were ur cladding removalists ??
as i have this FAUX BRICK house cladded in the 70"s & want it removed its about 10-12 square ,so as to expose the well preserved weatherboards underneath

,my friend tells me its the low asbestos type
i am thinking to do it myself
but for 2000$ i am willing to pay that

thanx please reply asap
 
Last edited:
Kevmeister said:
On the negative side, fibro can mask rotting timber behind it.

.
Click to expand...

But on the plus side again, if it's fibro, its an older house and would have been made from far better timber than is available these days,

Agree with other posts, fibro is fine, just keep paint up to it and it can be less grief than other builds,

Dave
 
etch said:
hi kristine i know this is an old post but if ur still out there may i ask who were ur cladding removalists ??
as i have this FAUX BRICK house cladded in the 70"s & want it removed its about 10-12 square ,so as to expose the well preserved weatherboards underneath

,my friend tells me its the low asbestos type
i am thinking to do it myself
but for 2000$ i am willing to pay that

thanx please reply asap
Click to expand...

Just check with your council whether you can do the removal yourself.
I believe some councils require full development control and licensed removalists of asbestos.
Central coast is still possible to remove yourself and has just lowered tipping fees down to $128.00 a ton for asbestos to stop people from dumping the stuff in the bush.
 
nww said:
Just check with your council whether you can do the removal yourself.
I believe some councils require full development control and licensed removalists of asbestos.
Central coast is still possible to remove yourself and has just lowered tipping fees down to $128.00 a ton for asbestos to stop people from dumping the stuff in the bush.
Click to expand...

hi i was thinking to ring local council & get some ideas

they can be very stringent steps to do that
an idea i thought if a ENCLOSABLE walk in SKIP is hireable but then u have time restraints from wat i heard like 3 days to load it up etc

maybe i should take it all off put it in the garage then hire a skip ???

but if a i can get a great price with proffessionals to do it then why not ?
 
etch said:
hi i was thinking to ring local council & get some ideas

they can be very stringent steps to do that
an idea i thought if a ENCLOSABLE walk in SKIP is hireable but then u have time restraints from wat i heard like 3 days to load it up etc

maybe i should take it all off put it in the garage then hire a skip ???

but if a i can get a great price with proffessionals to do it then why not ?
Click to expand...

You should not take it off and put in the garage first as the material is still
dangerous no matter what the asbestos sheeting has been rated at.
It should be taken off damp and placed in industrial black plastic and
disposed of as soon as possible. You will need to find out whether your
local tip excepts this material as not all do and if they do you have to
arrange a time to take it so they can dig a hole for it separately.

Is your property an IP is so asbestos disposal is a tax deduction and may
work out better for you to have some one do it.
 
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