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Master List of Asbestos Forms & Asbestos-containing Products InspectAPedia®  -     A detailed list of the forms & products in which asbestos was used Links to detailed articles about individual asbestos-containing products How to recognize some common asbestos-containing materials in buildings

This article provides a master list of the forms in which asbestos was used, a list of known asbestos-containing materials, and links to detailed articles about individual asbestos-containing products & materials found in buildings and in a wide range of products used in both home and industry. This document assists building buyers, owners or inspectors who need to identify asbestos materials (or probable-asbestos) in buildings by simple visual inspection. We provide photographs of asbestos containing materials and descriptive text of asbestos insulation and other asbestos-containing products to permit identification of definite, probable, or possible asbestos materials in buildings. Contact Us to add items and photographs to this list of asbestos containing materials.

© Copyright 2009 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use links at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

MASTER LIST OF ASBESTOS MATERIALS - List of Forms, Products, & Materials Containing Asbestos

Other common asbestos-containing building materials include: [extensive photo library available, more photos are invited from readers]

Asbestos was banned in all home construction uses beginning in 1990, but beware: pre-1990 products might have been used in some homes built shortly afterwards.

Low asbestos risk in some materials: One should note that some of these products contain such small amounts of asbestos, or asbestos in forms not easily converted to airborne fibers (non-friable), that the risk from the product is likely to be very small. One might elect to dispose of an old asbestos-containing toaster, but not to hire an environmental test firm or asbestos abatement company for that procedure.

Many other asbestos-containing products, both historic and among some current products, encapsulate the asbestos fibers in cementious or resinous materials which minimize the possible release of asbestos fibers into the air.

Note: most of the uses of asbestos listed here are obsolete and the products mentioned have not been manufactured for quite some time. However these products may still be encountered, particularly in older buildings and among old consumer products.

However some current materials may contain and are permitted to contain asbestos. In May 1999 Asbestos Materials Bans Clarification was issued by the U.S. EPA clarified that there are some categories of asbestos-containing products that are NOT subject to a ban. For example, the Asbestos National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, or NESHAP) rules issued in November, 1990 prohibits spray-on application of materials containing more than 1% asbestos to buildings, structures, pipes, and conduits unless the material is encapsulated with a bituminous or resinous binder during spraying and the materials are not friable after drying. [Italics inserted by -DF]. Thanks to Susan Kimball, Argus Pacific, for this clarification. See ASBESTOS REGULATION Update for details.

• Asbestos ASBESTOS IDENTIFICATION IN BUILDINGS provides a detailed guide to recognizing asbestos-containing materials in buildings and links to in depth articles about individual asbestos-containing building materials
• Asbestos ASBESTOS: List of Asbestos-Containing Products provides our detailed list of known products in which asbestos was used
• Asbestos ASBESTOS: Photo Guide to Materials / Products provides a photo guide to common asbestos-containing products
• Asbestos Readers should also see Insulation Material Identification Guide for advice about identifying various insulation materials found in buildings.

Forms & Products in Which Asbestos Was Used

Asbestos was used in both its long fiber form (photo at left, Rosato, courtesy J. Mansville), woven into cloths, for example, and in a powder form (as a filler in floor tiles). These classes of asbestos fibers vary widely in size and also, depending upon the matrix of bonding or adhesive material and the mix of asbestos with other materials, the friability and release of asbestos particles from various materials varies very widely from probalby below detection, to very great. It is also useful to understand that the form in which asbestos was used ranged among a number of forms (quoted from Rosato):

• Raw asbestos was used in products such as in asbestos yarn, felt, plastic reinforcements, even in cheese making:
  • Asbestos Asbestos yarn, wick packing, felt, rollboard, insulating wire, 85% Magnesia pipe covering, blocks and locomotive lagging
  • Asbestos Compound for encasing motor windings
  • Asbestos Molded brake lining and brake blocks
  • Asbestos Reinforcement in plastics
  • Asbestos Flooring
  • Asbestos Asbestos cement products
  • Asbestos Paints, varnishes, fillers
  • Asbestos Filling for asbestos mattress insulation
  • Asbestos Insulation of walls and floors (loose fiber)
  • Asbestos Insulation in underground conduits (loose fiber)
  • Asbestos Wadding in cartridges and timing devices
  • Asbestos Platinized asbestos fiber for filtering
  • Asbestos In cheese making (spores are placed on asbestos)
  • Asbestos Asphalt floor tile
  • Asbestos Adhesives
  • Asbestos Thread, rope packing
  • Asbestos Paper, plain and corrugated
  • Asbestos MIllboard
  • Asbestos Compressed sheet packing
  • Asbestos High temperature insulation (molded or various types)
  • Asbestos Molded composition for eledtrical and other purposes
  • Asbestos Automobile bodies and railway sleepers (molded composition)
  • Asbestos Filler in plastics
  • Asbestos Pottery and sculpture
  • Asbestos Plaster and stucco
  • Asbestos Sprayed asbestos (acoustical)
  • Asbestos Insulation of batteries (loose fiber)
  • Asbestos In foundations (to resist shock)
  • Asbestos Packing for explosives or other materials
  • Asbestos Filter fibers and filter pads
  • Asbestos Coating for welding rods
  • Asbestos Sewer pipe
  • Asbestos Automotive body undercoating
• Asbestos yarns were in turn used to produce woven fabrics used in other products such as asbestos cloth, brake lining, steam hoses, even spark plugs
  • Asbestos Cloth, brake lining, packing, valve stem braided and other
  • Asbestos Wick for oil burning apparatus
  • Asbestos Gaskets and gasket cloth
  • Asbestos Twine or sewing thread
  • Asbestos Electric fixture wire covering
  • Asbestos Typing gas mantles
  • Asbestos Edges for hair felting
  • Asbestos Fire retardant hose
  • Asbestos Tape, electrical and other
  • Asbestos Clutch facings
  • Asbestos Gas mask filters
  • Asbestos Tubing
  • Asbestos Rope
  • Asbestos Stocking for lead cable
  • Asbestos Electric cable covering
  • Asbestos Spark plugs
  • Asbestos Steam hose
• Asbestos cloth was used in products such as clothing, draperies, awnings, prison cell padding, ironing board covers
  • Asbestos cloth packing, sheet, high pressure folded or wound
  • Asbestos cloth Clothing, suits, gloves
  • Asbestos cloth Brake lining, folded or stitched
  • Asbestos cloth Gaskets
  • Asbestos cloth Substitute for canvas on insulation, where temperatures are high
  • Asbestos cloth in Helmets, Aprons, Berets, Hangings for firestops, blankets in electrolytic cells, mailbags
  • Asbestos cloth Draperies, blankets for fire fighting, bags and diaphrams in oxygen production
  • Asbestos cloth Awnings, theatre curtains
  • Asbestos cloth Floor lining in theaters, motion picture booths
  • Asbestos cloth Acetylene welding blankets
  • Asbestos cloth faced wipers in communication
  • Asbestos cloth used in filtering (fruit juices, acids, etc)
  • Asbestos cloth Oil filter sack (in automobiles)
  • Asbestos cloth Oven insulation
  • Asbestos cloth Lining of laboratories, cooling chambers and other rooms
  • Asbestos cloth Padding prison cells
  • Asbestos cloth Medical test apparatus
  • Asbestos cloth Sand bags for pressing hats
  • Asbestos cloth used in hay curing, to preserve aroma and color
  • Asbestos cloth Insulation against noise and vibration, especially in airplanes
  • Asbestos cloth ironing board covers
  • Asbestos cloth Rugs, theater scenery
  • Asbestos cloth liners in portable motion picture booths
  • Asbestos cloth Acoustical treatments
  • Asbestos cloth used in gun grips
  • Asbestos cloth Facing for dryer felt
  • Asbestos cloth Filter in dust collectors
  • Asbestos cloth Protectors for gas bags in balloons
  • Asbestos cloth Lining in motors
  • Asbestos cloth used in plastics
  • Asbestos cloth Padding for laundry presses and mangles
  • Asbestos cloth Wrapping oil tanks and oil lines in engines
  • Asbestos cloth Umbrellas and shields for fire fighters
  • Asbestos cloth Conveyor belting
  • Asbestos cloth used in cheese making, for temprature control
  • Asbestos cloth fittings for airplanes
• Asbestos felt was used in products such as acoustical liners, noise insulation, adhesives, plastics
  • Asbestos felt for acoustical work & noise insulation
  • Asbestos felt for papermachines
  • Asbestos felt for padding in pianos
  • Asbestos felt for adhesives
  • Asbestos felt for protection of underground pipe
  • Asbestos felt in plastics
• Asbestos tape was used in products such as oven pull strings, winding electrical bus bars, insulating electrical wires on planes, ships, and in theaters, belts for conveying hot glue or other articles, insulating underground cables
  • Asbestos tape wick for oil burning apparatus
  • Asbestos tape pull strings in ovens
  • Asbestos tape insulating armature
  • Asbestos tape winding bus bars
  • Asbestos tape in laboratory use: insulation for flasks, test tubes, retorts, tie straps in diffusing materials
  • Asbestos tape in glass manufacturing for wrapping tines of forks to take bottles from ovens
  • Asbestos tape insulating electrical wires on airplanes and ships
  • Asbestos tape belts for conveying hot bglue or other articles
  • Asbestos tape insulating locomotive steam pipes at bends etc
  • Asbestos tape used in winding coils
  • Asbestos tape insulating underground cables
• Asbestos wick packing was used as packing for piping, wire, armor plate, galvanized materials
  • Asbestos wick packing
  • Asbestos wick packing used in piping of wire, armor plage, or galvanized materials
• Asbestos paper was used among a wide range of products such as asbestos felt roofing, stove or heater linings, soldiers helmet linings, electrical appliances, aluminum foil reinforcement for insulation, heating boiler jackets, liners, and duct coverings, gaskets.
  • Asbestos paper air cell and other pipe coverings
  • Asbestos paper asbestos felt roofing paper
  • Asbestos paper protected metal roofing
  • Asbestos paper wick in oil burning apparatus
  • Asbestos paper linings of stoves and heaters
  • Asbestos paper linings of filing cabinets, soldiers helmets, automobile mufflers, drumcontrollers, electric appliances, cartridges, carpets, radiator covers, cookers
  • Asbestos paper armored car roofs
  • Asbestos paper enameling ovens to catch drip
  • Asbestos paper diaphraghm in electrolytic cell
  • Asbestos paper reinforcing aluminum foil for insulation
  • Asbestos paper window glass machinery to guide hot sheets; to sheild hot glass from flying fragments
  • Asbestos paper used in annealing (crumpled paper)
  • Asbestos paper covering of rockwool blankets which must be sewed
  • Asbestos paper boiler jackets (also asbestos paste lagging used on boilers and on pipe elbows)[DF]
  • Asbestos paper built up roofing BUR
  • Asbestos paper gaskets, plain and metallic
  • Asbestos paper tubes in electrical industry
  • Asbestos paper wrapping of hot air ducts or pipes
  • Asbestos paper used in or on motors
  • Asbestos paper insulation of ovens and dry kilns
  • Asbestos paper tank covers
  • Asbestos paper used in filtering
  • Asbestos paper used in chemistry and physics in many various ways
  • Asbestos reinforced with cotton thread for automobile tops
  • Asbestos paper wrapping of wires and cables
  • Asbestos paper insulating exhausts on automobiles
  • Asbestos paper table pads and mats
  • Asbestos paper baking sheets
  • Asbestos paper construction of air ducts or lining of paper ducts
• Asbestos millboard, used in stoves, heaters, gaskets, motion picture booths
  • Asbestos millboard used in stoves and heaters
  • Asbestos millboard used in garages
  • Asbestos millboard used in electric switch boxes
  • Asbestos millboard used in garbage incinerators
  • Asbestos millboard used in bottoms of brooder stoves
  • Asbestos millboard used as fireproof wallboard
  • Asbestos millboard used in gaskets, plain and metallic
  • Asbestos millboard used in washers in electrical apparatus
  • Asbestos millboard used in metal clad doors (between outside metal and wood core)
  • Asbestos millboard used in table pads and mats
  • Asbestos millboard used in safes
  • Asbestos millboard used in motion picture booths
  • Asbestos millboard used in dry cleaning machines
  • Asbestos millboard used in hoods of automobiles
  • Asbestos millboard used in ovens and dry kilns
  • Asbestos millboard used as a covering for ceilings over boilers, furnaces, water heaters, smoke stacks, etc. for fire protection
  • Asbestos millboard used in paddles in glass mills
  • Asbestos millboard used in tent shields and stove pipe rings
  • Asbestos millboard used in stove mats (some may be metal-covered)
• Asbestos-cement products, flat sheets, wallboard, such as in siding and roofing products
  • Asbestos cement materials used in interior sheathing of factories, refrigeration rooms, etc.
  • Asbestos cement materials used in wall partitions, movable and fixed
  • Asbestos cement materials used in brick type siding
  • Asbestos cement materials used in roofs and sides of small buildings
  • Asbestos cement materials used in fireproof layer on insulated board
  • Asbestos cement materials used in lining of fireless cookers
  • Asbestos cement materials used in brake shoes for elevators
  • Asbestos cement materials used in mounting of test instruments and gauges
  • Asbestos cement materials used in switch boards
  • Asbestos cement materials used in insulators between phases on arc deflectors
  • Asbestos cement materials used in electric motor casings
  • Asbestos cement materials used in lining for bleaching and other tanks and vats
  • Asbestos cement materials used in blackout or bombproof board
  • Asbestos cement materials used in exterior building sheathing including half-timber effect
  • Asbestos cement materials used in portable buildings
  • Asbestos cement materials used in semiportable motion picture booths
  • Asbestos cement materials used in fire protection around engines
  • Asbestos cement materials used in backing for dies in molded glass
  • Asbestos cement materials used in hoods over machines or vats from which vapor rises
  • Asbestos cement materials used in cabinets and panel box work
  • Asbestos cement materials used in miscellaneous electrical apparatus
  • Asbestos cement materials used in spark arresters
  • Asbestos cement materials used in backgrounds and cutouts for window displays
• Asbestos cement pipes were used in these applications:
  • Asbestos cement pipes used for carrying water, sewage, gas, and special liquids
  • Asbestos cement pipes used for gas vent pipes such as plumbing vents
  • Asbestos cement pipes used for condiuts for electric light wires
  • Asbestos cement pipes used for purlins, rafters, etc. for wartime buildings
  • Asbestos [added by DF]: air ducts in buildings, often in floor slabs
  • Asbestos [added by DF]: gas heating or hot water heating appliance chimneys and flues
• Asbestos composition material was used in these applications:
  • Asbestos insulation compounds
  • Asbestos electric wire insulation
  • Asbestos lamp sockets, rheostat backings, switch parts, arc deflectors, resistance mountings and other electrical products
  • Asbestos underground insulation
  • Asbestos phonograph records, buttons and other small objects made of plastic
  • Asbestos heater cord insulation
  • Asbestos missle and aircraft plastics
  • Asbestos flooring
  • Asbestos sealing of percussion caps in large cells
• Asbestos products in theaters included:
  • Asbestos localizing fires in location
  • Asbestos wall sections in theater sets to prevent reverberation
  • Asbestos firebox in theater fireboxes
  • Asbestos blinders or ears for theater lights or sun arcs
  • Asbestos dust on cobwebs, old wine kegs, etc.
  • Asbestos insulation for maintaining even temperatures
  • Asbestos protection of nearby buildings when fires are set
  • Asbestos insulation of camera booths against sound
  • Asbestos dressing winter scenes as asbestos snow
  • Asbestos noise and sound insulation in theaters
  • Asbestos theater curtains
  • Asbestos theater fireproof walls, using corrugated decorative wallboards
  • Asbestos theater flooring

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Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

ASBESTOS IDENTIFICATION IN BUILDINGS
Asbestos Risk Assessment
Asbestos in Good Condition
Asbestos in Poor Condition
Asbestos Removal, Amateur, Incomplete
Asbestos Foamed-Over
Asbestos Air Ducts
Asbestos Air Duct Vibration Dampers
Asbestos Pipe Insulation
ASBESTOS REGULATION Update
Asbestos Roofing Materials
Asbestos Siding Materials
Asbestos in unusual places
Carbon Nanotube Materials
Ceiling Tiles Containing Asbestos
Fireproofing containing Asbestos
Floor Tiles Containing Asbestos
Paper Duct Insulation Containing Asbestos
Transite Pipe Air Ducts
Transite Pipe Chimneys & Flues
Transite Pipe Water Supply Piping
Urea Formaldehyde Foam Insulation UFFI
Vermiculite Insulation Containing Asbestos
Insulation Material Identification Guide
ASBESTOS: List of Asbestos-Containing Products
ASBESTOS: Photo Guide to Materials / Products
Asbestos Under the Microscope
Insulation Material Identification Guide
Asbestos-Free Insulation Materials
  Asbestos Pipe Insulation
  Balsam Wool Batt Insulation
  Cotton Insulating Batts
  Cellulose loose fill insulation
  Concrete insulation, light-weight
  Fiberglass Insulation
  Foam Board Insulation
  Foam Insulation Types - Visual Id
  Homasote & Other Insulating Board
  Icynene Foam Spray Insulation
  Insects & Foam Insulation
  Mineral Wool - Rock Wool Insulation
  Mold in Fiberglass Insulation
  Mold in Foam Insulation
  Paper Duct Insulation
  Perlite Insulation
  POLYISOCYANURATE FOAM INSULATION
  POLYSTYRENE FOAM INSULATION
  URETHANE FOAM Deterioration, Outgassing
  Vermiculite Insulation
INSULATION INSPECTION & IMPROVEMENT

• Asbestos, its Industrial Applications, D.V. Roasato, engineering consultant, Newton MA, Reinhold Publishing Co., NY, 1959, Library of Congress Catalog No. 59-12535. We are in process of re-publishing this interesting text online.
• Asbestos Asbestos: How to find and recognize asbestos in Buildings - visual inspection methods, list of common asbestos-containing materials
• Asbestos Asbestos HVAC Ducts and Flues field identification photos and guide
• Asbestos Fiberglass: Indoor Air Quality Investigations: Health Concerns About Airborne Fiberglass: Fiberglass in Indoor Air from HVAC ducts, and Building Insulation
• Asbestos Enviro-Scare: Electric Power Lines, Electromagnetic Fields, Cancer Risk, & "Enviro-Scare" - The Normal Curve Cycle of Public Fear of Environmental Issues
• Asbestos Dust from the World Trade Center collapse following the 9/11/01 attack: the lower floors of this building contained spray-on fire-proofing asbestos materials.
• Asbestos Asbestos Information Links: Asbestos Detection, Testing, Recognition, Hazards, Field Photos, and Information Sources, including health-related links such as legal services and information about mesothelioma and other cancers.
• "Asbestos in Plastic Compositions", A.B. Cummins, Modern Plastics [un-dated, pre 1952]
• "Asbestos in Your Home," Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority, Spokane WA 509-477-4727 www.scapa.org provides a one-page image, a .pdf file drawing of a house warning of some possible sources of asbestos in the home. The sources are not ranked according to actual risk of releasing hazardous levels of airborne asbestos fibers and the list is useful but incomplete.
• The US EPA provides a sample list of asbestos containing products epa.gov/earth1r6/6pd/asbestos/asbmatl.htm
• Thanks to Susan Kimball, Argus Pacific Corp., Puget Sound, WA, for pointing out that some products are permitted to contain more than 1% asbestos fibers by current standards provided that the fibers are encapsulated in an appropriate binder. Argus Pacific, in Seattle, WA 98119, 206.285.3373, is an industrial hygiene firm who also provide OSHA and DOSH regulated training in Washington State, providing classes in asbestos, lead, mold, hazardous waste, emergency response, and other occupational health, safety, and professional development topics. -- September 2008.
• " Work Practice for Window Removal and Window Putty Patching With Less Than Or Equal To 1% Asbestos Window Putty and Caulking" University of Washington, 2002 http://www.washington.edu/admin/asbestos/1putty.html
• How do I Manage Asbestos in our House or Apartment Building?, Illinois Department of Environmental Conservation, provides this article at http://www.epa.state.il.us/small-business/asbestos-in-home/
• Asbestos in buildings - employee notice, University of Washington dept. of Environmental Safety, http://www.ehs.washington.edu/ohsasbestos/index.shtm
• Window putty to be exempted from asbestos removal by State of Maine - http://list.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=SAFETY;wYpdKg;20010307113643-0500A
• EPA Region 6 identifies window putty as asbestos containing - http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6pd/asbestos/asbmatl.htm
• June 1997 - Window Putty - OSHA case cites contractor for asbestos exposure during removal of window putty http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=1091

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

• Books, Complete List of Environmental Inspection, Diagnosis, Cleanup, Air Quality & Design, Inspection, Repair Books at the InspectAPedia Bookstore
• Environmental Health & Investigation Bibliography - our own technical library on indoor air quality inspection, testing, laboratory procedures, forensic microscopy, etc.
• ...

More Information on Building Diagnostic Inspections and Repairs

• Asbestos: How to find and recognize asbestos in Buildings - visual inspection methods, list of common asbestos-containing materials
• Asbestos HVAC Ducts and Flues field identification photos and guide
• Fiberglass: Indoor Air Quality Investigations: Health Concerns About Airborne Fiberglass: Fiberglass in Indoor Air from HVAC ducts, and Building Insulation
• Enviro-Scare: Electric Power Lines, Electromagnetic Fields, Cancer Risk, & "Enviro-Scare" - The Normal Curve Cycle of Public Fear of Environmental Issues
• Dust from the World Trade Center collapse following the 9/11/01 attack: the lower floors of this building contained spray-on fire-proofing asbestos materials.
• Asbestos Information Links: Asbestos Detection, Testing, Recognition, Hazards, Field Photos, and Information Sources, including health-related links such as legal services and information about mesothelioma and other cancers.
• Asbestos Identification and Testing References
• Asbestos Identification, Walter C.McCrone, McCrone Research Institute, Chicago, IL.1987 ISBN 0-904962-11-3. Dr. McCrone literally "wrote the book" on asbestos identification procedures which formed the basis for current work by asbestos identification laboratories.
• Stanton, .F., et al., National Bureau of Standards Special Publication 506: 143-151
• Pott, F., Staub-Reinhalf Luft 38, 486-490 (1978) cited by McCrone

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