Lyons couple discover their home was formerly owned by Mr Fluffy asbestos insulator Dirk Jansen

Leo and Lorraine Carvalho were living their dream, pouring their life savings and years of hard work into their Lyons home – until a knock on the door changed everything.
The couple's dream has become their nightmare, after discovering they are living at the epicentre of Canberra's Mr Fluffy asbestos crisis – the home where the company founder Dirk Jansen began his deadly trade.


Over the years the couple has ploughed $500,000 into building the home they've always dreamed of, but their three-bedroom home is one of 1021 across Canberra the ACT government plans to bulldoze before 2020. 
In July 2014, a letter from the ACT government arrived telling them their home was a Mr Fluffy house. The couple was confident their house was safe, as it had undergone a clean-up in the early 1990s and was completely cleared of asbestos risk by a certifier during renovations in 2004.

"The letter came and I rang up and said we don't have anything here because we had gutted the place during the build in 2004," Mrs Carvalho said. "I am like most other Canberrans, who thought well they have cleaned it out and it's gone."
But days later, a man who had worked installing Mr Fluffy insulation knocked on their door and told them the home was previously Mr Jansen's and that countless bags of loose-fill asbestos were stored on their block.
It was then that anxiety set in.
An asbestos assessment done in July 2014 revealed no contamination in any of the living areas but confirmed the presence of fibrous amosite asbestos in two lower-level garage storage areas.
Despite the block's disturbing history, Mr Carvalho said it being Mr Jansen's former home had little bearing on what lay ahead.
"This house is not Jansen's anymore and I paid a fair price for it," he said. "Mr Jansen's house or not it doesn't make a difference now, because all the Mr Fluffy houses are in the same boat."
Mrs Carvalho said she felt robbed.
"We've put a fortune into this house and we are not going to get it back," she said. "To see everything we have earned wiped out like this…it's as if you don't exist."
Throughout 36 years of marriage Mrs Carvalho said her husband had never stopped working.
After a long career in construction, he has spent the past 15 years working in administration at the ACT Magistrates Court.

Read More : http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/lyons-couple-discover-their-home-was-formerly-owned-by-mr-fluffy-asbestos-insulator-dirk-jansen-20150317-1m142c