Asbestos Old House Siding Types

Asbestos siding was very popular product back in the 1950s and 1960s.

Asbestos old house siding types.

Asbestos occurs in six mineral types and all have fibers that are harmful to lung tissue getting embedded in lung tissue and causing inflammation scarring and eventually tumors. Only a professional trained to handle asbestos safely should undertake these repairs. We include photographs of a very wide range of examples of asbestos containing products materials. Covering old asbestos shingles with new siding may seem like an option too but it s not easy to do safely.

Older style cement siding shingles were traditionally made by mixing asbestos into the cement in order to fireproof and strengthen siding. Asbestos siding is a type of siding that was introduced in the 1920 s as a fire proof cladding for buildings and homes that could also resist rot and insects. No level of exposure to asbestos is deemed safe although the people suffering from serious asbestos related diseases are usually those who have handled. Let the siding dry then prime and paint with the best exterior latex you can find.

Asbestos exposure in your home can occur in different ways. Lead paint wasn t outlawed until 1978 so it s sure to be present on siding going back to the 1950s. This type of siding should to be painted every 5 to 7 years so it s not a maintenance free material like vinyl siding. Image 2 below shows the fibers of the chrysotile type which makes up about 90 of all commercially available asbestos.

Asbestos siding is very fragile in nature. Asbestos shingles are relatively strong but. Inhaled asbestos fibers have definitively been linked to a variety of lung diseases including asbestosis and different types of cancer such as mesothelioma. This article provides a photo guide to and list of asbestos containing products 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.

The following scenarios describe how homeowners can expose themselves to asbestos at home. Asbestos itself is actually a rock that has an fibrous makeup that looks a lot like hair or fur. For further help in dealing with asbestos problems in the home contact your state s environmental affairs agency. Because fiber cement siding manufactured in north america after around 1978 was made without using asbestos in those later products and because those non asbestos fiber cement shingles included products that by eye were an exact visual match for their older asbestos containing brothers and sisters already installed a building built.

As the experts at asbestos siding note it is sometimes difficult to spot because it was often manufactured to resemble different types of siding in a variety of colors and textures. Asbestos product photo guide. Many houses still have asbestos siding on their exteriors. With any type of repair the asbestos remains in place.