Home renovators are being warned of asbestos dangers as medical experts see a long-predicted "third wave" of disease sufferers.

"A number of people have predicted this would happen, a number of experts, and it is now happening, we're seeing the third wave, so-called, of people who are presenting with asbestos-related cancers," chairman of the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency Geoff Fary told 891 ABC Adelaide.

"The first wave were those people who worked in the mining and the processing of the substance, the second wave were those people whose jobs put them in regular contact with asbestos, be they electrician or linesman or people who worked changing wheels or brakes of cars.

"But we're now finding the third wave [who] have had no known occupational exposure to airborne asbestos."

Mr Fary said medical authorities conservatively estimated about 2,000 Australians were dying from asbestos-related cancers each year, and home renovations came with many potential dangers.

"A good rule of thumb is that any house that was built or substantially renovated anywhere between the end of the Second World War and the late 1980s almost certainly would contain some asbestos," he said.

Thousands of products used in such houses contained some asbestos, he warned, ranging from the glue used to secure vinyl floors to window putty, the mortar between bricks and exterior cladding of homes.

"Renovating homes is a very popular pastime and saves money, but unless people take the adequate precautions it can be potentially a very dangerous thing to do from the point of view of contracting a potentially fatal asbestos-related disease," Mr Fary said.

Water a precaution when asbestos fibres might be present

Rex Menzell works for an asbestos testing and monitoring business in South Australia and said applying water was one of the best precautions when fine asbestos fibres may be present during renovations.

"Our team does the assessing, carries out the regulations of SafeWork SA ... and many people don't understand where they're going to get exposure through these very fine fibres," he said.

"[When testing a property] we take precautions and wet down that area; it's particularly good to use water to stop fibres spreading. Get a specialist, obviously, to do it."

Protective clothing is needed when working near asbestos. ( ABC: News Lisa Mosley )

Mr Menzell said some home renovators found themselves dealing with asbestos before they realised there was any risk.

"We do take samples from the public — sometimes they might pull up a bit of flooring and take it in [for testing]," he said.

"Make sure that's wet, double-bag it and take it in to someone who can analyse it professionally and tell you where you stand."

The Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency said medical experts thought the incidence of asbestos-related deaths was under-reported in Australia.

"Some people have contracted an asbestos-related disease simply through hugging their dad when he came home from work and he had asbestos dust on his overalls," Mr Fary said.

"The one that people often talk about, mesothelioma, that's a very aggressive cancer that presents anything up to 30 to 40 or more years after first exposure, but then between diagnosis and death it can be only a matter of months.

"Australian medical experts tell us that for every case of mesothelioma there are probably at least two cases of asbestos-induced lung cancer.

"[I think often] people have not delved into the background of a lung cancer to determine whether asbestos might have been a contributing factor or might have been the cause of it."