Fibro | Chalkline

Fibro is the Australian vernacular term for fibre-cement sheet, flat or corrugated, used for cladding, eaves, bathroom and laundry linings, fences, and sheds. The word covers two very different materials, and the difference matters enormously: old fibro contains asbestos; modern fibre cement does not.

The asbestos warning (the key point):

Fibro made up to the late 1980s is asbestos-cement and typically contains asbestos. A national ban on the manufacture and use of all asbestos took effect on 31 December 2003.
Treat any fibro in a building from before about 1990 as asbestos-containing unless it has been tested and confirmed otherwise.
Cutting, drilling, sanding, grinding, or smashing old fibro releases asbestos fibres. Do not power-tool it, do not water-blast it, do not dump it.

Modern fibro: post-1980s fibre-cement sheet (for example James Hardie products) is cellulose-fibre-reinforced and asbestos-free. That is the product covered in cement sheet (Villaboard, compressed sheet, and the like).

For a builder or renovator:

On any pre-1990 job, assume fibro is asbestos. Get a competent person to identify or test it before disturbing anything (this feeds the asbestos register and any hazmat survey).
Disturbing or removing asbestos fibro is licensed work above the small-quantity threshold (and the threshold and rules vary by state), and friable asbestos always needs a licensed removalist.
Never assume “it’s just fibro” and cut into it. Old fibro is the single most common asbestos exposure in residential renovation.

Also known as: fibro sheeting, asbestos-cement sheet, AC sheet.

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