Where Is Asbestos Commonly Found In The Home, When And How Should It Be Removed? Asbestos Building Materials

Most products made today do not contain asbestos. Those few products made which still contain asbestos that could be present inhaled are required to be present labeled while such. However, up to the 1970s, various types of house products including insulation materials worn inside homes contained asbestos.  For additional information on top of the 1970's including 1980's bans, click here.

Asbestos was mined including worn commercially inside North America beginning inside the late 1800s. Its use increased much during World War II. Since then, it has been worn inside various industries. For example, the house including construction industry has worn it intended strengthening cement including plastics while skilfully while intended insulation, fireproofing, including sound absorption. The shipbuilding industry has worn asbestos to protect boilers, steampipes, including hot liquid pipes. The automotive industry uses asbestos inside vehicle brakeshoes including grip pads. More than 5,000 products contain or have contained asbestos.

In the late 1970s, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) banned the use of asbestos inside wallboard patching compounds including gas fireplaces because the asbestos fibers inside these products could be present released into the environment during use. Additionally, asbestos was voluntarily withdrawn through manufacturers of electric locks dryers. In 1989, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned all new uses of asbestos; uses established prior to 1989 are still allowed. The EPA has established regulations that require school systems to examine intended damaged asbestos including to eliminate or reduce the vulnerability to occupants through removing the asbestos or encasing it. In June 2000, the CPSC concluded that the chance of children�s vulnerability to asbestos fibers inside crayons was extremely low. However, the U.S. manufacturers of these crayons settled to reformulate their products within a year. In August 2000, the EPA recommended that consumers reduce possible asbestos vulnerability from vermiculite-containing garden products through limiting the quantity of grime produced during use. The EPA suggested that consumers use vermiculite outdoors or inside a well-ventilated area; keep vermiculite damp at the same time as using it; prevent bringing grime from vermiculite use into the home on top of clothing; including use premixed potting soil, which is less likely to produce dust.

The regulations described above including other actions, coupled with widespread public concern regarding the hazards of asbestos, have resulted inside a significant annual decline inside U.S. use of asbestos: Domestic using up of asbestos amounted to regarding 719,000 metric tons inside 1973, but it had dropped to regarding 9,000 metric tons through 2002. Asbestos is currently worn the majority commonly inside gaskets including inside roofing including friction products.

Common Home Building Products That May Contain Asbestos

Common products that might have contained asbestos inside the past, including conditions which may release fibers, include:

• STEAM PIPES, BOILERS, including FURNACE DUCTS insulated with an asbestos rug or asbestos newspaper tape. These materials may release asbestos fibers if damaged, repaired, or removed improperly.
• RESILIENT FLOOR TILES (vinyl asbestos, asphalt, including rubber), the support on top of VINYL SHEET FLOORING, including ADHESIVES worn intended installing floor tile. Sanding tiles can release fibers. So may scraping or sanding the support of sheet flooring during removal.
• CEMENT SHEET, MILLBOARD, including PAPER worn while insulation around furnaces including woodburning stoves. Repairing or removing appliances may release asbestos fibers. So may cutting, tearing, sanding, drilling, or sawing insulation.
• DOOR GASKETS inside furnaces, wood stoves, including coal stoves. Worn seals can release asbestos fibers during use.
• SOUNDPROOFING OR DECORATIVE MATERIAL sprayed on top of walls including ceilings. Loose, crumbly, or water-damaged material may release fibers. So will sanding, drilling, or scraping the material.
• PATCHING AND JOINT COMPOUNDS intended walls including ceilings, including TEXTURED PAINTS. Sanding, scraping, or drilling these surfaces may release asbestos.
• ASBESTOS CEMENT ROOFING, SHINGLES, including SIDING. These products are not likely to release asbestos fibers unless sawed, dilled, or cut.
• ARTIFICIAL ASHES AND EMBERS sold intended use inside gas-fired fireplaces. Also, other older household products such while FIREPROOF GLOVES, STOVE-TOP PADS, IRONING BOARD COVERS, including certain HAIRDRYERS.
• AUTOMOBILE BRAKE PADS AND LININGS, CLUTCH FACINGS, including GASKETS.

Where to Look intended Asbestos Hazards inside the Home

• Some roofing including siding shingles are made of asbestos cement.
• Houses built between 1930 including 1950 may have asbestos while insulation.
• Asbestos may be present present inside textured paint including inside patching compounds worn on top of wall including ceiling joints. Their use was banned inside 1977.
• Artificial ashes including embers sold intended use inside gas-fired fireplaces may contain asbestos.
• Older products such while stove-top pads may have some asbestos compounds.
• Walls including floors around woodburning stoves may be present protected with asbestos paper, millboard, or cement sheets.
• Asbestos is found inside some vinyl floor tiles including the support on top of vinyl sheet flooring including adhesives.
• Hot liquid including steam pipes inside older houses may be present coated with an asbestos material or covered with an asbestos rug or tape.
• Oil including coal furnaces including door gaskets may have asbestos insulation.

How to Know if it IS Asbestos

Despite what some fraudsters may tell you, it is not possible to identify asbestos just through looking at it. It can only be present positively identified through a person trained inside fiber recognition with a special polarized light microscope. There are certified labs throughout the country that can identify asbestos inside house materials (see married list). Contact a lab to find not in how the sample should be present collected including sent intended testing. It is usually not an expensive try including typically should cost regarding $35 per sample.

Do NOT attempt to take samples yourself unless specifically instructed how to do therefore - you don't want to chance vulnerability to the floating fibers through disturbing it without taking the real precautions.

Why You Should Not Disturb Asbestos Unnecessarily

Asbestos fibers can have serious effects on top of your health if inhaled. There is no famous protected vulnerability to asbestos. The greater the exposure, the greater the chance of developing an asbestos-related disease.

The quantity of time between vulnerability to asbestos including the initial signs of condition can be present while greatly while 30 years. It is famous that smokers exposed to asbestos have a greatly greater chance of developing lung cancer than just from smoking alone.

Asbestos can cause asbestosis, a scarring of the lungs that leads to breathing problems including heart failure. Workers who manufacture or use asbestos products including have high exposures to asbestos are often touched with asbestosis.

Inhalation of asbestos can also cause lung cancer including mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the lining of the chest including abdomen lining. It may be present linked to cancer of the stomach, intestines, including rectum, while well.

This page was updated on top of 30-Mar-2016

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