Where Is Asbestos Found in a Home?
Asbestos may lurk in the building materials of older homes
Highlights
Homes built in the 1980s or earlier may have building materials that contain asbestos.
Asbestos is a mineral fiber that can cause health issues if inhaled.
Often, it’s best to leave asbestos untouched.
Older homes have their charms—and some drawbacks. The materials used to build houses decades ago may have been durable, but also contained dangerous materials, if disturbed. Asbestos is one example. If your home was built in the 1980s or earlier, knowing where asbestos is found will help protect your health.
What Is Asbestos?
Asbestos are mineral fibers that resist heat and corrosion. Since they can withstand high temperatures and don't corrode, they have long been a popular choice for use in materials that need to be fireproof or corrosion resistant, including many types of building materials.
Six types of asbestos exist, and each type has its own distinct uses. The fiber shape can be either serpentine, which looks like long and curly spirals, or amphibole, which looks like stiff, short needles.
Why Do Some Homes Have Asbestos?
Asbestos was a common ingredient in older building materials for two reasons.
First, it is fire resistant, allowing it to help reduce fire risk in homes. Second, it has excellent insulation properties, helping to keep homes warm in the winter or cool in the summer. It also excels at sound insulation, so noise is less likely to travel from room to room.
Additionally, asbestos can resist water, chemicals, and electricity. It may seem like a miracle mineral, but it has a serious downside.
Where Do You Find Asbestos?
First, if you live in a newer home, one built in the late 1980s or after, it's highly unlikely that you'll find asbestos in any materials in your house. Recognizing the health risks of the fibers, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned certain uses of asbestos in 1989.
However, if your home was built before then, particularly during the 1930s to 1950s, there is likely asbestos in some areas.
Some of the most common places where asbestos may be found include:
Vermiculite insulation
Pipe insulation
Roof materials
Vinyl tiles
Textured paint, such as popcorn ceilings
Drywall or paperboard
Cement
Depending on the age of your home and the materials it contains, there may be asbestos lurking elsewhere. For example, if your toilet is on the older side, it could contain asbestos.
Can You Identify Asbestos on Your Own?
Unfortunately, you can't look at a piece of drywall or a floor tile and tell if it contains asbestos with the naked eye. To identify the fiber, you need to use a polarized light microscope, which you'll typically only find in a lab. You also need to know what to look for, which requires years of training and expertise.
You need to hire a local asbestos testing company to take samples and analyze them with a special microscope. Since there are health risks associated with handling asbestos and releasing the fibers, taking the samples and analyzing them is definitely something you should leave to the pros.
What Are the Risks of Asbestos?
Exposure to asbestos can increase your risk of respiratory problems, notably lung cancer and mesothelioma, a type of cancer that develops as a direct result of asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma can affect the lungs or abdomen.
Another condition that can develop after exposure to asbestos is asbestosis, which causes scarring in the lungs.
That sounds scary, but don't be too worried. Lung problems and cancer typically develop after regular, prolonged exposure to asbestos, such as after years of working in a mine or handling asbestos-containing materials without wearing protective equipment.
Mesothelioma and asbestosis are both rare conditions—mesothelioma affects about 3,000 people annually. Typically, it takes at least 10 years after prolonged exposure to asbestos for a health concern to develop.
What Should You Do if You Think Your Home Has Asbestos?
If you suspect material in your home contains asbestos, the best thing to do is usually nothing. As long as the material is in good condition, the risk of exposure and health effects is low.
Asbestos becomes a health concern once it is disturbed and its fibers become airborne. You can then breathe in the fibers, which can remain in your lungs. So, if you have a popcorn ceiling in one room and would like to remove it, or have vinyl tiles in another room of unknown age and origin and you want to redo the floor, that's when you should call in a professional to take a sample and send it out for testing.
The average asbestos testing cost is $480, with the total price depending on your location, the size of your home, and the extent of the issue.
If a material that may contain asbestos becomes damaged, you'll want to take action. For example, if you drill into asbestos-containing drywall or a popcorn ceiling starts to flake away, the asbestos fibers can come loose. Limit access to the area until a professional can investigate the material.
Finally, if you're considering a large-scale renovation or remodel of your home, and you have reason to believe asbestos is present, call in a professional asbestos testing company before the project begins. If asbestos is present, the company may recommend sealing or covering the material to prevent the release of the fibers, or removing the asbestos-containing materials entirely.
Removal is often more expensive than containment, with the average cost of asbestos removal starting at over $1,000.