Asbestos siding is composed of asbestos fibers mixed with portland cement.
Asbestos asphalt siding.
Asbestos siding was made by adding asbestos a naturally occurring mineral to portland cement.
Removing asbestos is often cost prohibitive for most people.
Continue reading below our video of the day.
Asbestos siding was manufactured to resemble many different materials so it doesn t always look the same.
See siding types installation defects for a guide to siding products of various types.
Most homes have asphalt shingles and asbestos is more common in asphalt shingles.
It is generally very brittle and the back may be black and have the appearance of tar paper.
The resulting product was very durable fire resistant and absorbed paint well.
It is very brittle and has a tendency to crack and break when nailed which can release asbestos fibers into both the air and ground.
Roofing adhesives roofing felt and base flashing also might include asbestos.
Asbestos cement can be dangerous if pulverized by sawing sanding breaking etc.
Alternatively if you leave the asbestos on your home you can safely seal the old siding underneath the new siding and because asbestos is an excellent insulator you will actually be adding to the energy efficiency of your home by leaving it on.
A similar looking product composite siding made of asphalt impregnated fiberboard was also used for lap siding and wall shingles but is not an asbestos cement product.
That cement was then pressed into siding shingles that came in a wide variety of sizes profiles and textures.
Nonfriable means they cannot be broken up by hand pressure.
Asbestos cement siding is very brittle and can be easily chipped cracked or broken.
Some asphalt roof shingle products and therefore quite possibly some asphalt siding products did indeed contain asbestos fibers in their substrate or coating.
Roof shingles even if the material contained asbestos which it might are rarely the only nor even the principal source of problem levels of asbestos fibers in a building and i suspect the same is true of asphalt based building siding.
Asphalt or cement roofing and siding that contain asbestos when intact and in good condition are generally considered nonfriable and are not hazardous.
Paper like vapor barriers can present more of a hazard since they are considered friable.
