Fibro

A pre-WW2 house in Darwin. The roof is sheeted with corrugated fibro sheets and the walls with flat fibro sheeting, with fibro battens covering the joints.

The name fibro is short for "fibrous (or fibre) cement sheet", more commonly called "asbestos cement sheet" or "AC sheet". It is a building material in which asbestos fibres are used to reinforce thin rigid cement sheets.^[1]

Although fibro was used in a number of countries, it was in Australia where its use was the most widespread. Predominantly manufactured and sold by James Hardie & Co. until the mid-1980s, fibro in all its forms was a very popular building material, largely due to its durability. The reinforcing fibres involved were almost always asbestos.

The use of fibro has now been banned in several countries, including Australia itself, due to its asbestos content. Asbestos is directly related to a number of life-threatening diseases including, asbestosis, pleural mesothelioma (lung) and peritoneal mesothelioma (abdomen).

Fibre cement sheet is still readily available, but the reinforcing fibres are now cellulose rather than asbestos.^[2] However the name "fibro" is still applied to it for traditional reasons.

Products used in the building industry

Roof sheeting, known as Hardies "Super Six."

• Flat sheets for house walls and ceilings were usually 6 mm and 4.5 mm thick, in 900 and 1200 widths and from 1800 to 3000 long.
• Battens 50 mm wide x 8 mm thick used to cover the joints in fibro sheets.
• "Super Six" corrugated roof sheeting and fencing.
• Internal wet area sheeting, "Tilux"
• Pipes of various sizes for water reticulation and drainage.
• Moulded products ranging from plant pots to outdoor telephone cabinet roofs and cable pits.

See also

• Fiber cement siding replaced asbestos-reinforced sheeting in the 1980s.
• Eternit

References

External links

• http://www.nsw.gov.au/fibro/
• Advice if you have FAC in your home