Asbestos insulating board, almost always written AIB, is the material that decides whether a job is ordinary or licensable. It is a soft, low density board used as ceiling and wall lining, as fire protection around structure, in service risers and behind heaters. Because it is soft it gives up fibres readily, and because it gives up fibres readily most work on it may only be done by a contractor HSE has licensed.
What AIB looks like and what it is not
AIB is a light, fibrous board that can usually be marked with a fingernail, unlike asbestos cement, which is hard, dense and brittle. That is a useful distinction and not a reliable one: the two were used in similar places and painted the same colour. The difference matters so much that it is decided by analysis rather than by eye, and every price after that depends on the answer.
Why the work is licensable
Licensable work may only be done by a contractor holding a licence from HSE's Asbestos Licensing Unit, has to be notified to the enforcing authority before it starts, is carried out inside a sealed enclosure under negative pressure, and ends with a four stage clearance by an independent accredited analyst. Each of those is a real cost and a real protection, and together they are why AIB removal is a different price from cement sheet removal.
Where it is found
Ceiling and wall linings, soffits and eaves, panels around and beneath windows, boxing to columns and beams, fire breaks in ceiling voids, panels behind electric heaters and inside airing cupboards, and lift shaft linings. In a building of the right age, AIB is the material most likely to be met unexpectedly during a strip out.
Managing it instead
AIB in good condition, undisturbed and sealed, is frequently managed rather than removed. It goes in the register, it gets a risk assessment and a re-inspection interval, and anyone working nearby is told where it is. Removal becomes the answer when the board is damaged or when the work planned around it cannot avoid it.
Cement board asbestos against insulating board, and why the difference is expensive
The two get the same nickname and they are not the same material or the same job. Asbestos cement is hard, dense and grey, with a low percentage of fibre bound tightly in cement: corrugated roof sheets, flue pipes, soffits, water tanks. In sound condition it is non licensed work and can often be taken down whole by a trained contractor. Asbestos insulating board is soft, low density and usually off white, with a much higher fibre content and almost no binding strength: ceiling tiles, panels around boilers and airing cupboards, infill panels under windows, fire breaks. Work on insulating board is LICENSED and notifiable, and it releases fibre easily when broken or drilled. Getting them the wrong way round is the most costly identification error on a domestic job, because a board removed as if it were cement is an uncontrolled release, and the test is a laboratory one rather than a look.
AIB boards, and the three places they were used most
AIB is the trade abbreviation and it stands for asbestos insulating board. Three uses account for most of what is still in place. Boxing and linings around heat: the panels forming an airing cupboard, the boards behind a warm air unit or a boiler, the lining of a service riser. Ceiling and wall panels, particularly the square tiles used in kitchens, porches, garages and 1960s and 1970s public buildings. And fire protection: fire breaks in roof voids between terraced properties, linings to structural steel, and infill panels under windows in system built housing and flats. Two working rules follow. It is LICENSED, notifiable work, so removal is not a job for a general builder. And it is far easier to damage than asbestos cement, so a board being drilled for a shelf releases more fibre than a cement sheet being unbolted, which is the opposite of what people assume from how solid each one looks.
Questions people ask about asbestos insulating board
What is AIB?
Asbestos insulating board, a soft low density board used for linings, fire protection and panelling, and the most common licensable material in ordinary buildings.
Is all AIB work licensable?
Most of it is. A very small number of short duration tasks fall into notifiable non-licensed work, which HSE defines narrowly; the safe assumption is licensable until a competent contractor argues otherwise on the record.
How do I tell AIB from asbestos cement?
Density and hardness are the trade's rule of thumb, but the two were used in the same places and only analysis settles it. Since the answer decides who may legally do the work, it is worth the sample.
Is an asbestos board ceiling always AIB?
No. Ceiling boards can be plasterboard, asbestos cement or AIB, and the three look similar from below while the rules for each are very different. A sample settles it, and guessing decides whether the work is licensable.