Common Materials Containing Asbestos
Asbestos has properties which made it suitable for use as insulation and as part of binding materials in buildings. Asbestos has been used in such parts of the home as floor tiles, ceiling panels, acoustical celings, exterior stuccos, etc. All in all there have beeen over 3600 products manufactured that contain asbestos. It would be impossible to list all of these products here. The only sure way to find out if the material you are concerned with contains asbestos is to test it. Refer to the following diagram and the table below for the most common products that may contain asbestos.
Building Materials Which May Contain Asbestos
|
Product
|
% of Asbestos
|
Dates of Use
|
Binder
|
Friable/
NonFriable |
|
Walls and Ceilings
|
||||
| Sprayed coating | <1 - 95 | 1935-1978 | Portland cement, sodium silicates, organic binders | Friable |
| Troweled coating | <1-95 | 1936-1978 | Portland cement, sodium silicate | Friable |
| Asbestos-cement sheet | 10-50 | 1930-present | Portland cement | NonFriable |
| Spackle | <1-5 | 1930-1978 | Starch, casein, synthetic resins | Friable |
| Joint compounds | <1-5 | 1945-1977 | Asphalt | Friable |
| Textured paints | <1-15 | ?-1978 | Friable | |
| Millboard, rollboard | 80-85 | 1925-? | Starch, lime, clay | Friable |
| Vinyl wallpaper | 6-8 | ? | NonFriable | |
| Insulation board | 30 | ? | Silicates | Friable |
|
Floors
|
||||
| Vinyl-asbestos tile | 1-20 | 1950-1980 | Poly(vinyl) chloride | NonFriable |
| Asphalt-asbestos tile | 15-20 | 1920-1980 | Asphalt | NonFriable |
| Resilient sheet flooring | 15 | 1950-1980? | Dry oils | NonFriable |
| Mastic adhesives | 2-20 | 1945-1980? | Asphalt | Friable |
|
Roofing and Siding
|
||||
| Roofing felts | 5-40 | 1910-present | Asphalt | NonFriable |
| Roof felt shingles | 1-10 | 1971-1974 | Asphalt | Friable |
| Roofing shingles | 10-25 | ?-present | Portland cement | NonFriable |
| Roofing tiles | 10-25 | 1930-present | Portland cement | NonFriable |
| Siding shingles | 10-20 | ?-present | Portland cement | NonFriable |
| Clapboards | 10-20 | 1944-1945 | Portland cement | NonFriable |
|
Pipers and Boilers
|
||||
| Cement pipe and fittings | 10-25 | 1935-present | Portland cement | NonFriable |
| Block insulation | 5-40 | 1890-1978 | Magnesium carbonate, calcium silicate | Friable |
| Preformed pipe wrap | 30-90 | 1926-1975 | Magnesium carbonate, calcium silicate | Friable |
| Corrugated asbestos paper |
30-90 |
1935-1980 1910-1980 |
Sodium silicate, starch | Friable |
| Paper tape | 30-90 | 1901-1980? | Polymers, starches, silicates | Friable |
| Putty (muddling) | 20-100 | 1900-1973 | Clay | Friable |