You pull the carpet back in the spare room to see what is under it, and there they are. Rows of small square floor tiles, stuck down with something black and brittle, in a house built in the sixties. Asbestos vinyl tiles were still being made in that era, and the glue under them is often the part people wish they had left alone.
Stop there. An intact tile is a far smaller problem than one you’ve levered up with a scraper, and the gap between those two is most of what this article is about.
In a house of this period, asbestos is rarely in one spot. It turns up in the fence, the eaves, the garage roof, the sheet behind the bathroom tiles and sometimes under the lino. You can’t tell by looking, and neither can anyone else, which is why getting it tested is the honest first step.
Why a house of this age in Geelong is a likely candidate
Asbestos cement was commonly used in residential and commercial building materials from the mid 1940s until the late 1980s, according to Asbestos Victoria. Blue and brown asbestos were banned in the mid 1980s, and from 31 December 2003 a total ban on all forms came into force.
The Victorian Government puts the scale of it plainly. Homes built in Australia until 1990 routinely used asbestos products such as cement sheeting and thermal insulation for pipes, and asbestos is estimated to still be present in one in three homes. That one in three is a national figure, not a Geelong one, and nobody has published a regional number.
What is specific to this region is the timing. Geelong’s northern suburbs were built in bulk inside exactly that window. Ford was the city’s biggest employer with over 5,000 workers by 1953, and the Housing Commission’s Norlane program peaked between 1951 and 1957, reaching 2,464 houses by 1976. Corio gained five Commission estates of about 2,500 houses from the late 1950s over roughly twenty years, filled by workers from Ford, International Harvester, the Shell refinery that opened in 1956 and later Alcoa at Point Henry from 1963.
None of that means every house on those estates contains asbestos. It means the odds are high enough to test before you start a job. If you’ve already opened something up and you’re not sure what you’re looking at, call now before you go further. We can get a sample analysed by a NATA accredited laboratory, and if it comes back positive we will put you in touch with a licensed removalist.
Asbestos vinyl tiles and the black glue under them
Vinyl floor tiles of this vintage and the dark bitumen style adhesive under them are two different materials, and they have to be tested separately. A clean result on the tile tells you nothing at all about the glue.
While a tile is whole and sitting under carpet or a later floor, it is non friable, which means the asbestos is bound into the material and does not crumble under hand pressure. Sand it, grind it, heat it or lever it up in pieces and that changes. Material reduced to dust, or that crumbles easily, is friable, and friable asbestos is Class A work with no exemption at any quantity. Our guide to friable versus non friable asbestos covers why that distinction drives everything else.
A tile you haven’t touched is a question for a laboratory. A tile you’ve gone at with an angle grinder is a question for a licensed removalist.
Take a holiday house at Ocean Grove where the carpet has come up through two bedrooms and a hallway ahead of new flooring, with the tiles intact apart from a few broken at the doorways. That is two samples at minimum, the tile and the adhesive, at $88 to $160 per sample. Standard laboratory turnaround runs 1 to 5 business days, with a 25% to 50% surcharge if you need a result inside 24 to 48 hours.
If it comes back positive and the floor has to go, general asbestos removal in Victoria runs roughly $45 to $150 per square metre as a Melbourne metro benchmark. A floor that size will almost certainly be priced at the minimum job charge instead, which sits between $800 and $1,500. That minimum is why a small job is never cheap: the setup, the containment and the disposal barely change whether the area is two square metres or ten.
Outside: the fence, the roof, the eaves and the shed
Outside is where most enquiries start, because outside is where the material fails first. A storm or a stray cricket ball does the damage, and a wall you have walked past for years is suddenly a problem.
A 1960s fibro fence line along the back boundary in Norlane is the classic one. Whole fence jobs run $1,000 to $3,500 on Melbourne metro rates, and individual sheets sit at $20 to $50 each. Read that per sheet figure alongside the minimum job charge, because four cracked sheets isn’t a $200 job.
The next call in the queue is usually a Super Six garage roof in Corio that has started to crack. Roof removal runs about $40 to $120 per square metre, with a garage or small roof typically $3,500 to $5,500 and a full house roof $4,000 to $15,000. Our asbestos roof removal page covers what moves those numbers, and there is more in our guide to Super Six roof removal.
Eaves are the quiet one. On a 1970s brick veneer in Belmont, a kitchen renovation that runs out to the external wall can take the soffit lining with it, and a full set of eaves is $1,500 to $2,500. Sheds and garages are priced as lump sums: $1,300 to $3,000 for a shed, $2,500 to $5,000 for a single garage and $4,000 to $8,000 for a double.
| Where it turns up | What it usually is | Melbourne metro benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Fibro fence line | Non friable sheeting | $1,000 to $3,500 whole fence, or $20 to $50 per sheet |
| Super Six garage or shed roof | Non friable corrugated sheet | $3,500 to $5,500 |
| House roof | Non friable corrugated sheet | $40 to $120 per m2, $4,000 to $15,000 all up |
| Eaves and soffit lining | Non friable flat sheet | $1,500 to $2,500 for a full set |
| Shed or garage walls | Non friable flat or corrugated sheet | Shed $1,300 to $3,000, single garage $2,500 to $5,000, double $4,000 to $8,000 |
| Floor tiles and adhesive | Non friable while intact, friable once broken up | $45 to $150 per m2, subject to the minimum below |
| Any small patch | Still a full setup | Minimum job charge $800 to $1,500 |
| Laboratory test | Per sample | $88 to $160 |
Prices here are indicative and GST treatment varies between providers, so ask each removalist whether their quote includes GST. There is no published Geelong pricing for this work, so every figure above is a Melbourne metro benchmark and none of it is a quote from us.
Inside: wet area sheeting and what a renovation disturbs
Indoors, the material hides behind finishes somebody installed later. Wall sheeting in a bathroom or laundry often sits behind tiles from a later decade, which is why a bathroom strip out is one of the riskiest jobs a homeowner takes on without thinking about it.
The same goes for floors. A lino floor from the seventies may sit on an older tiled floor, and a floating floor from 2010 may sit on both. You don’t know what’s in the stack until you open it, and opening it is the moment the risk appears.
The other common trigger here is a sale. A building and pest inspection flags suspected asbestos, and the report usually says “presumed” rather than “confirmed”, because a visual inspection cannot confirm it. A laboratory result turns that presumption into a fact one way or the other, and a clear result is worth having in writing before a buyer starts negotiating on it.
What a test on asbestos vinyl tiles or fibro actually costs
Testing is cheap next to everything else on this page, and it’s the only step that gives you an answer you can rely on. Laboratory analysis runs $88 to $160 per sample. Watch how a provider prices multiples, because the two models are different: some labs charge a flat fee per sample with no volume break, others discount from the second sample onwards.
Most houses need three to eight samples, and larger properties eight to twelve. That is because every different material has to be tested separately. A fence, an eaves lining and a bathroom wall sheet are three samples, not one.
If you want the whole property looked at rather than one suspect material, an on site inspection with sampling runs $395 to $900 on Melbourne metro rates. That’s the right call before a full renovation, and overkill if you only want to know about one floor. Our asbestos testing page explains what a sampling visit involves, and how testing works in Victoria covers the laboratory side.
Removal pricing depends on access, height, the condition of the material and how much there is, which is why nobody can quote a roof over the phone from a description. Our asbestos removal cost guide sets out the ranges in one place. Book a test before you touch it: call now, or send a photo through the contact form and we will tell you what is worth sampling.
What you may do yourself, and where it can legally go
Here is the part most asbestos content gets wrong. Victoria’s Occupational Health and Safety Regulations allow non friable asbestos to be removed without a licence only where the area does not exceed 10 square metres in total and no more than one hour of removal work is done in any seven day period. Both caps have to hold, and the hour is cumulative across jobs.
Those regulations bind employers and self employed people at workplaces. WorkSafe’s own compliance code for removing asbestos says at paragraph 34 that where someone removes asbestos in their own home the regulations do not apply, because a home is not a workplace, and it recommends the code be followed anyway. So it isn’t accurate to say a homeowner breaks the law by removing more than 10 square metres at home.
What is accurate is this. The moment a tradesperson, a tenant, a rental property or a paid helper is involved, those caps are law. A full fence line, a whole garage or a house roof is far past 10 square metres and far past an hour anyway, which is the real reason those jobs go to a licensed removalist. Friable material is never covered at any quantity, and our article on doing it yourself in Victoria works through the detail.
One point in your favour. A clearance certificate is not required where the work was only non friable material not exceeding 10 square metres, and where a homeowner engages a licensed removalist directly the duty to obtain that certificate sits on the removalist rather than on you.
Disposal is where the Barwon region gets awkward. Exactly one facility in the region appears on EPA Victoria’s register of landfills licensed to accept asbestos: Drysdale Landfill, run by the City of Greater Geelong, on (03) 5251 2935. It takes small domestic quantities only, capped at a six by four trailer, and both EPA and the neighbouring councils tell you to ring before you turn up.
Every Surf Coast Shire transfer station refuses asbestos outright, including Anglesea, Winchelsea, Torquay and Lorne, and Colac Otway Shire publishes no asbestos option at all. A Torquay, Anglesea, Lorne or Colac homeowner has one legal destination and it is on the Bellarine. Drysdale doesn’t publish its asbestos gate fee, so ring and ask. Other Victorian councils charge between $100 and $376 per tonne, and none of those councils is Geelong.
Whatever goes in the trailer has to be wrapped in polythene around 200 microns thick, sealed with tape and marked with the asbestos warning label. It can never go in a general skip or a council hard waste collection, and our disposal guide for the Barwon region has the rest.
Not sure which of these applies to your place? Call now and describe what you are looking at, or send photos through the contact form. Removal itself is carried out by licensed asbestos removalists we work with, and their WorkSafe Victoria licence number appears on every quote.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are asbestos vinyl tiles dangerous if I leave them under the carpet?
While a tile is whole and undisturbed it is non friable, which means the fibres are bound into the material. The risk comes from breaking, sanding, grinding or heat lifting it, which is exactly what replacing a floor involves. If you’re going to disturb it, test the tile and the adhesive first, because they are separate materials and need separate samples.
How many samples does a Geelong house usually need?
Most houses need three to eight samples, and larger properties eight to twelve. Every different material has to be tested separately, so a fence, an eaves lining and a bathroom wall sheet count as three samples rather than one. At $88 to $160 per sample, check whether your lab charges a flat rate or discounts for volume, because both models exist.
Can I take asbestos to my local transfer station in Torquay or Colac?
No. Every Surf Coast Shire transfer station refuses asbestos, and Colac Otway Shire publishes no disposal option at all. The only facility in the region on EPA Victoria’s register is Drysdale Landfill, which takes small domestic quantities up to a six by four trailer. Ring (03) 5251 2935 before you load anything, because authorised landfills can still decline a load and you may need to book a time.
Why can a licensed removalist not start tomorrow?
Licence holders must notify WorkSafe before removal work begins. For 10 square metres or less of non friable material that is at least 24 hours of notice, and for anything larger it is at least five days. That notice period is a legal duty on the removalist, so treat a crew offering to start this afternoon as a warning sign rather than good service.