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
Questions & answers about what building products and common in-building products, appliances, mechanical components were produced using asbestos materials
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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.
MASTER LIST OF ASBESTOS MATERIALS - List of Forms, Products, & Materials Containing Asbestos
Here we provide a master list of manufactured products that contain asbestos. Common asbestos-containing building materials are illustrated separately at ASBESTOS Photo Guide to Materials / Products our extensive photo library. Note that asbestos may be present in still other substances and even products, not by its deliberate use or design, but because it occurs naturaly, such as asbestos that is found in some talc powders (amphibole asbestos).
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 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.
The list below (adapted and expanded from the nearly-complete asbestos product list found in Rosato) lists forms of asbestos-containing products.
Raw asbestos was used in products such as in asbestos yarn, felt, plastic reinforcements, even in cheese making:
Asbestos in Drywall and drywall joint compound, drywall "mud", and textured coatings; includes Chrysotile asbestos, the most common form of asbestos found in products, especially in buildings (serpentine mineral with sheet or layered structure)
Asbestos Molded brake lining and brake blocks, predominantly Chrysotile asbestos
Asbestos Paints, varnishes, fillers, predominantly Chrysotile asbestos; includes textured coatings and "popcorn ceiling" paints - acoustic ceiling paints intended to improve noise and sound control in buildings. See ASBESTOS FIREPROOFING SPRAY-On Coatings. Also see Asphalt-asbestos Paints & sealants.
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 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, includes Chrysotile asbestos,
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
Vermiculite insulation contains naturally occurring asbestos fibers in some products, depending on where the vermiculite was mined - see VERMICULITE INSULATION
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 filters used in industrial processes for removing particulates from liquids including wine, predominantly Chrysotile asbestos
Asbestos Gaskets and gasket cloth, predominantly Chrysotile asbestos form.
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 Wrapping for asbestos-covered heating pipes and water piping, predominantly Chrysotile asbestos - see Asbestos Pipe Insulation
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 used to seal metal HVAC duct joints - see Asbestos Air Ducts
Asbestos paper linings of filing cabinets, soldiers helmets, automobile mufflers, drumcontrollers, electric appliances, cartridges, carpets, radiator covers, cookers
Asbestos paper (corrugated) used to insulate heating piping & water piping - see Asbestos Pipe Insulation
Asbestos paper (corrugated) used to insulate the interior of some warm air heating furnaces including in the air path or plenum
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 fire doors, predominantly Chrysotile asbestos
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 - see Fireproofing containing Asbestos
Asbestos-containing fluids such as drilling fluids, predominantly Chrysotile asbestos
Asbestos insulation compounds
Asbestos fibers in acoustic asbestos ceiling tiles and fire-resistant ceilings, often amphibole asbestos such as amosite, crocidolite, anthrophylite, teremolite, and actinolite, with amosite among the most commonly-found. - see CEILING TILES - Asbestos-Containing where we include photos of soft Tremolite asbestos ceiling panels.
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 roofing products: roofing cements and flashing cements, roof coatings (tar or asphalt or bituminous coatings with asbestos fibers or fillers), flashing products - predominantly Chrysotile asbestos form. ASBESTOS CEMENT & FIBER CEMENT ROOFING
Asbestos sealing of percussion caps in large cells
Asbestos flooring, sheet flooring and floor tiles: for a photo guide to tile and sheet flooring that contain asbsestos - "vinyl floor tiles that contain asbestos" or properly, vinyl-asbestos floor tile patterns, sizes, and years of manufacture, see Asbestos Flooring Product Names, Sizes, Years. Includes Chrysotile asbestos,
Asbestos theater fireproof walls, using corrugated decorative wallboards
Asbestos theater flooring
Complete List of major U.S. Asbestos Product Producers & Companies
The following is a complete list of companies who produced products that used or contained asbestos in one or more forms. Of course many of these companies made many products that did not-contain asbestos as well. CONTACT us if you are aware of a asbestos-using product manufacturer who is not on this list; we welcome the addition of company names from other countries than the U.S. and Canada represented below.
A.B.B. Lummus Global Inc.
Abex Corperation,
AC & S,
Amatex Corporation,
A. P. Green Industries,
Armstrong World Industries,
Babcock and Wilcox,
Bell Asbestos Mines,
Bestwall Gypsum | Georgia Pacific,
Bondex,
Borg Warner Company,
Celotex,
C. E. Thurston & Sons,
Certainteed Corportation,
Combustion Engineering,
Congoleum Corporation,
Crown Cork and Seal,
Dana Corporation,
Eagle Picher Industries Inc.,
Ehret Magnesia,
E.J. Bartells Co.,
Foseco,
Foster Wheeler,
Federal Mogul Corporation,
Flexitallic Gasket Company,
Forty Eight Insulations Inc.,
GAF Corporation,
Garlock,
General Electric,
General Motors,
Georgia Pacific,
Gold Bond,
H. K. Porter Inc.,
Harbison Walker Refractories Co.,
Honeywell Heating,
Ingersoll Rand,
John Crane,
Johns-Manville,
J T Thorpe,
Kaiser Aluminum,
Keene Corporation,
Kelly Moore Paint Co.,
Kentile Floors,
Lincoln Electric,
M.H. Detrick Company,
Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing,
Mobil Oil Corperation,
National Gypsum,
Nicolet Keasby & Mattison,
North American Refractories,
Owens Corning Fiberglass,
Owens Illinois,
Pacor Incorporated,
Pittsburgh Corning,
Plibrico Company,
Porter Hayden Company,
Rapid American
Phillip Carey Manufacturing,
Raybestos Manhatten
Raymark Industries,
Rock Wool Manufacturing Co.,
Rutland,
Shook and Fletcher,
Synkoloid Company, The Flintkote Company,
Unarco,
Union Carbide,
United States Gypsum,
Western Macarthur,
Westinghouse Electric,
W.R. Grace
.
Questions & Answers regarding this article
Questions & answers about what building products and common in-building products, appliances, mechanical components were produced using asbestos materials.
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Additional technical contributors & reference sources for this article are listed below.
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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 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.
Chrysotile [asbestos] and Its Uses, Louis Perron, Minerals and Metals Sector, Canadian Minerals Yearbook, 2002, Natural Resources Canada, web search 03/01/2011, original source: http://www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/mms-smm/busi-indu/cmy-amc/content/2002/20.pdf
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
Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.
ASBESTOS IDENTIFICATION IN buildings How to find and recognize asbestos in buildings - visual inspection methods, list of common asbestos-containing materials
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
Asbestos in Your Home U.S. EPA, Exposure Evaluation Division, Office of Toxic Substances, Office of Pesticides and Toxic Substances, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington,D.C. 20460
Asbestos NESHAP Adequately Wet Guidance, EPA340/1-90-019, December 1990, U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, Stationary Source Compliance Division, Washington, DC 20460,original web source: http://www.epa.gov/region04/air/asbestos/awet.htm
Asbestos products and their history and use in various building materials such as asphalt and vinyl flooring includes discussion which draws on Asbestos, Its Industrial Applications, D.V. Rosato, engineering consultant, Newton, MA, Reinhold Publishing, 1959 Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 59-12535 (out of print, text and images available at InspectAPedia.com).
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.
"Handling Asbestos-Containing roofing material - an update", Carl Good, NRCA Associate Executive Director, Professional Roofing, February 1992, p. 38-43
EPA Guidance for Controlling Asbestos-Containing Materials in buildings, NIAST, National Institute on Abatement Sciences & Technology, [republishing EPA public documents] 1985 ed., Exposure Evaluation Division, Office of Toxic Substances, Office of Pesticides and Toxic Substances, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington,D.C. 20460
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