Do Asphalt Siding Shingles Contain Asbestos

In the early 1920s american roofing material manufacturers johns mansville carey eternit and century were all offering at least one asbestos cement roofing shingle to their customers.

Do asphalt siding shingles contain asbestos. It is virtually impossible for anyone but a trained professional with a high powered microscope to tell definitively whether a shingle contains asbestos. Asphalt or cement roofing and siding that contain asbestos when intact and in good condition are generally considered nonfriable and are not hazardous. None of the samples was found to contain asbestos. The use of asbestos cement roof shingles was growing at a steady rate in the united states.

Some asphalt roof shingle products and therefore quite possibly some asphalt siding products did indeed contain asbestos fibers in their substrate or coating. Shingles placed on a roof before the mid 1980s might contain asbestos. These shingles are generally 12 by 24 inches and the bottom tends to have a wave like pattern though that is not always the case. 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.

However asbestos fibers can cause serious lung and respiratory problems if inhaled. An asphalt shingle recycler in massachusetts tested incoming asphalt shingles on a per load basis. The siding may also contain asbestos if it is old with a wood grain texture to resemble cedar. If your siding fits either of these descriptions you should consider having it tested.

Nonfriable means they cannot be broken up by hand pressure.