Building defects database - Joinery

Record details

© Copyright Philip Santo	Asbestos panels line this garage ceiling. The main joints are sound, but an asbestos specialist had sealed small dented areas with tape to eliminate the risk of any loose fibres being released.
© Copyright Philip Santo	Characteristically for a house built during the 1970s the eaves soffit boards are of asbestos cement. After a surveyor recommended improving ventilation of the roof space a contractor had cut small vents into the soffit boards - an understandable but undesirable implementation of the general recommendation. Providing vents in the tiled gable ends would have been technically more challenging but a much more suitable solution.
© Copyright Philip Santo	The owners assumed this L-shaped section at the rear of the garage ceiling was due to cuts in the asbestos lining made during electrical alterations. In fact it defined the location of a former internal store, confirmed by alterations to brickwork below the left-hand end, just out of shot. The boards had been cut to size around the internal wall at the time of construction and simply left when the wall was removed. An asbestos specialist had since sealed the exposed edges with tape to eliminate the risk of any loose fibres being released.