During the mid-1900’s there were a lot of products that contained asbestos. It seemed like such an ideal, resourceful material to most of the world. It came in many different forms, and colors so it could be in most anything you wanted. The most resourceful, and what seemed to be the most amazing thing about asbestos is that it was fireproof, flammable. In the early age this made it a very good tool for tablecloths because there were often candles at the table (having no electricity yet) so if one fell there would be no damage because the asbestos contaminated table cloth wouldn’t catch on fire.
Asbestos was put into clothing, cement, road signs, so many things! One of the most popular things to weave asbestos into was fire fighter uniforms and masks. These men’s jobs were to go into fires, so this protected them because the fire couldn’t get to them at all through there fire proof outfits.
As civilization got more advanced- so did the use of asbestos. The time when it was most popular, of course, was the industrial revolution. Things like; ovens, iorns, pipes, boilers, hot water heaters, and turbines etc. all had to remain heated for extended periods of time without burning. Asbestos was used for this because then it would never catch fire.
While asbestos was super popular here in the United States it was often put into construction materials. Most cement, insulation, drywall and many other things. In some houses asbestos was put in to almost everything. Here is a list of some of the things that asbestos was most commonly put into. Many of the things on this list are places where it is normally one of the most common places to have a fire.
Inside of the house: Backing of vinyl sheet floor covering, Carpet underlay, Cement flooring, Compressed asbestos sheet, Flues to fireplaces, Insulation below wood heater, Internal and external ventilators, Internal angle mouldings, Internal walls & ceiling, Kitchen splashback, Loose fill insulation in roof cavity, “Tilux” marble finish wall panel, Vinyl floor tiles, Wall sheeting.
Outside of the house; Backing for electrical meter boards, Dog kennel, Downpipes, Eaves and gables ends, External angle mouldings, Fence, Garage, Gutters, Insulation for hot water pipes and tank, internal and external ventilators, Ridge capping, Sheds & external toilets, Wall sheeting.
Once it was discovered that asbestos was actually very toxic, laws were placed to prohibit putting asbestos in many products. Some wonder why the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) didn’t outright ban asbestos. Anyway, asbestos was no longer being put into the products. But at that point the whole world was faced with the problem that they had asbestos in their homes. So to this day families and individuals can have asbestos in all of those things listed above, and more without knowing. That is why it is important that if you have any reason to think that your house may contain asbestos, if it was built before or in the 1980’s, then it the safest thing to do for yourself and those around you to have it removed.