Fibro fencing — flat grey sheet, often with a capping strip, usually looking chalky and brittle — is everywhere in Sydney’s older suburbs. If it was installed before the late 1980s, assume it contains asbestos.
It is also, through no coincidence, the surface we most often decline to clean.
Why it is a problem
Asbestos cement sheeting is safe while it is intact and bonded. The fibres are locked in a cement matrix and nothing is released.
The danger is disturbance. Anything that abrades, breaks or erodes the surface releases respirable fibres, and those fibres cause mesothelioma and asbestosis with no known safe exposure threshold.
A pressure washer is close to the worst possible tool. It erodes the cement matrix directly, and it atomises the result into an airborne mist that drifts across the yard, the neighbour’s yard, and anywhere the wind takes it. It also leaves contaminated slurry on the ground.
This is the same argument we make about fibro cladding, and it applies with more force to fences because they weather on both sides and are usually in worse condition.
Identifying it
You cannot tell visually with certainty — only a NATA-accredited laboratory test confirms it. But the indicators are reliable enough to act on.
Age. Asbestos cement sheeting was used in Australia until 1987 and banned outright in 2003. A fibro fence on a house built before the late eighties should be treated as asbestos until proven otherwise.
Appearance. Flat grey-white sheet, typically 4 to 6mm, often with a slightly dimpled or fibrous texture on one face. Frequently with a moulded capping along the top and timber or steel posts.
Condition. Chalky, weathered, sometimes with hairline cracking or moss growth, often with broken corners.
Testing is inexpensive — a sample to a NATA lab, usually under a hundred dollars — and worth it before any work is contemplated.
What you can safely do
If the sheet is intact and in good condition, gentle cleaning is possible.
Low pressure, by hand. A soft brush, a bucket of mild detergent, and a garden hose at normal mains pressure. No machine.
Keep it wet. Water suppression is the standard control. Dry brushing is the thing to avoid absolutely.
Soft wash chemistry for growth. A dilute biocide applied gently, left to work, and rinsed. This is the right approach for moss and algae because it needs no mechanical action at all — see moss killers.
Nothing abrasive. No scrubbing pads, no wire brushes, no sanding, ever.
If the sheet is already damaged — cracked, broken, crumbling, or with the surface visibly eroded — do not clean it at all. It needs assessment, not washing.
What the law requires in NSW
A homeowner may remove up to 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos from their own property without a licence. Beyond that, a licensed asbestos removalist is required.
Ten square metres is small — roughly a four metre run of fence. Most fence replacements exceed it.
Even under the threshold, the controls are specific: wet methods, no power tools, no breaking of sheets, PPE including a P2 respirator and disposable coveralls, plastic sheeting below the work area, and disposal as asbestos waste at a licensed facility. It cannot go in a skip or a council bin.
Anyone doing work on asbestos in a workplace context needs appropriate training, and a Class A or B licence depending on the material.
There is also a tracking requirement most people have not heard of: moving more than 10 square metres or 100kg of asbestos waste must be tracked through the NSW EPA’s WasteLocate system, whether you removed it yourself or a professional did.
Penalties for improper removal or disposal in NSW are substantial, and they apply to homeowners as well as contractors.
Source: NSW Government, unlicensed asbestos removal. For scale, the Government notes that 10 square metres is roughly a 5m x 2m wall, or the sheeting from one small bathroom. Verified October 2026.
Costs for licensed removal typically run $1,500 to $4,000 for a residential fence run, depending on length and access, plus disposal.
Painting rather than removing
Often the better option.
Sealing asbestos cement with a suitable coating encapsulates the fibres and extends the life of the sheet considerably. It avoids the cost and the disturbance of removal, and it is the approach generally recommended for material in sound condition.
The preparation has to be gentle — wash by hand, no abrasion — and then a good quality exterior acrylic. Done properly it is a long-term solution and the fence can be left alone for another decade.
Shared fences
A boundary fence is a shared asset under the NSW Dividing Fences Act, and that applies to the asbestos question too. Removal and replacement is a shared cost, and it needs a conversation with the neighbour before anyone starts.
Also worth knowing: disturbing asbestos affects them as much as you, which makes unilateral action on a shared fence a genuinely bad idea.
What we do
We will gently clean sound, intact fibro by hand with low pressure and appropriate chemistry. We will not pressure wash it, and we will not touch damaged sheeting at all.
If a cleaner offers to pressure wash your fibro fence, that is a reason not to use them for anything. See fence cleaning for what we will and will not do.
