How to Find if you Have Harmful Asbestos in your Home

Guest Blogger #248, Entry #751, November 9, 2011

Asbestos is a naturally-occurring mineral that becomes airborne when disturbed. When asbestos fibers travel through the air, they can be easily inhaled or swallowed by people who come in contact with them. For people who work in occupations that put them at risk for asbestos exposure, such as construction or mining, the risk doesn’t end with that person. If they do not properly change and shower after work, they can track asbestos fibers home with them on their clothes, exposing loved ones to the carcinogenic fibers, too. Be aware of where asbestos can be found, so you can take appropriate precautions against disturbing the material. In doing so you prevent the possibility of harming you or your loved ones and needing to looking for lawyers for mesothelioma cases.

How to Find if you Have Harmful Asbestos in your Home

Before you remodel, check to see if there’s asbestos in your home

Image via: Beinterior Decorator

In Building Materials

Since one of the primary uses for asbestos is in building materials, there are many places throughout the home and workplace (like schools, factories, etc. built before 1970) where materials containing asbestos might be located. Boilers, steam pipes and furnace ducts are common sites that may contain asbestos insulation, like blankets or paper tape. Floor tiles made of asphalt, rubber, or vinyl asbestos are also of concern, as are the adhesives for installing any type of floor tile. The underside of vinyl sheet flooring can also contain asbestos. Insulation in the forms of cement sheets, millboards and paper, found around heating appliances, are common applications of asbestos; so are the door gaskets to these machines. Soundproofing, certain types of decorative sprays for walls, textured paints, patches and joint compounds may all contain asbestos fibers. Several types of roofing (asbestos cement, shingles, siding) are known to contain the mineral. Manufactured ashes and embers for fireplaces, as well as heatproof household items like fireproof gloves, covers for ironing boards and some models of hairdryers might also pose a risk for asbestos exposure.

Older homes can have asbestos in the paint/window frames

Image via: Flickr

Outside of the Home

Outside of the home, but possibly in your driveway or garage, there is another common site for asbestos use—brake pads and linings, clutches and gaskets in your vehicle. This puts DIY automotive repair persons and professional auto mechanics at risk for asbestos exposure as well.  Car assembly is one of the rare applications of asbestos that is still permitted in the United States. Since the mineral is no longer mined here, we now import asbestos for this purpose.

Asbestos in the Soil

Asbestos is also used in ship building, and vermiculite with amphibole asbestos (which used to be mined in Libby, Montana, a seriously contaminated site) can be found in certain potting soils as well—although all potting soils made since 1990 no longer contain the amphibole asbestos.

Check your outdoor potting soil for asbestos

Conclusion

Now that you know the common places asbestos can be found, practice safety. Don’t disturb any materials thought to contain asbestos. They may not be harmful unless they are jostled, removed, remodeled, etc. If you suspect harmful asbestos in your home, call in an asbestos abatement professional to assess the situation. If you work in an industry that puts you at risk for asbestos exposure, practice safe habits to keep your home and family asbestos fiber-free.

Lawrence Reaves attempts to raise awareness about asbestos exposure because of the horrible health hazards attached to it.  For information on the types of mesothelioma and lawsuits for asbestos visit asbestosnews.com

For more home safety tips on Stagetecture, click here.