Asbestos was a fairly prevalent substance used in the building of homes built between the 1930s and the early 1980s, as we’ve talked
about numerous times in our blogs. Asbestos was formerly thought to be a flexible and inexpensive alternative to a variety of building
materials, which explains its widespread use.
Since our establishment, Swift Asbestos Removal has tested and removed asbestos from hundreds of houses in Scotland, so we’ve seen
just about everything when it comes to this potentially fatal chemical.
We receive a lot of questions from homeowners who want to know where they can discover asbestos in their houses, so we thought we’d
take a few minutes to go over the most frequent locations.
Asbestos in the attic and wall insulation
This asbestos-containing insulation, known as “vermiculite,” was widely used in homes until the early 1990s.
Popcorn ceilings, fireproofing, acoustic texture, goods
Fireproofing and texture surfaces in the home, such as ornamental plaster, textured paint or coatings, fire blankets, fire curtains, and fire
doors, can all contain asbestos.
Packings and gaskets
Asbestos may be found in the gaskets and packings that wrap plumbing and HVAC fittings. High-temperature gaskets, industrial
packings, high-pressure packing, and asbestos packing reinforced with steel or copper wire are among these things.
Drywall and wallboard
Asbestos has been discovered in roofing shingles, roofing felt, base flashing, cement wallboard, cement siding, ceiling tiles and lay-in
panels, and vinyl wall coverings.
Floor tiles and linoleum sheets
If you have 9X9 inch floor tiles in your home and it was built before the 1980s, there’s a good chance they contain asbestos. It’s also
possible that the mastic used to adhere the floor tile to the subfloor contains asbestos.
Insulation for pipes and wires
Asbestos is likely to be found in piping and wires wrapped in any of the following materials: corrugated air-cell, breaching, block
insulation, and paper-like duct insulation.
pipe made of asbestos and cement.
Asbestos-cement pipe, also known as Transite, was utilised for HVAC systems within concrete slabs. It is not a DIY project to remove
asbestos from your house, and only a qualified professional asbestos removal firm should try it.
The Remainder
If you discover any of these items in your house, or believe that they could be these materials, the best course of action is to have it
tested right away. While you may suspect a product includes asbestos based on its appearance, the only way to be certain is to have it
tested by a qualified asbestos expert. If you think you have asbestos in your house, call us right away.
