Asbestos in Your Home?
Knowing what materials in your home contain asbestos can protect you against unwanted exposure and help avoid developing serious diseases, such as mesothelioma, years later.
Exposure to asbestos, a naturally occurring mineral fiber, may cause one or more serious diseases including: Asbestosis, Lung Cancer, and Mesothelioma. Asbestos is also thought to cause cancers of the esophagus, stomach, colon, rectum and gastrointestinal tract. The exposure occurs when asbestos fibers of various sizes are released into the air. The fibers are often so small they can only be seen with a microscope. Some of these microscopic fibers can travel through the airways and become embedded in the lungs. In time, sometimes 15 to 40 years later, these embedded fibers can cause serious, often fatal, diseases which is why consumers need to be aware of building materials in their homes that may contain asbestos.
Exposure in the home can occur to you or to a contractor working in your home when removal or remodeling by drilling, scraping or sanding asbestos containing products causes the asbestos to become “friable” and fibers become airborne.
Building materials in the home that commonly contained asbestos through the 1970s include:
- acoustic ceiling material,
- pipe lagging and elbow mud,
- vinyl asbestos floor tiles,
- linoleum backing,
- taping compounds and asbestos plaster,
- insulation inside fuse-boxes,
- old wire insulation,
- aircell pads inside furnaces,
- asbestos fabric vibration-insulation joint,
- asbestos taping on return seams,
- asbestos taping inside register,
- block insulation on heaters and boilers,
- door gaskets,
- transite furnace flue,
- Transite shingles and siding,
- roofing felt,
- dry asbestos insulation material used to insulate attics.
The California Contractors State License Board recommends that before you undertake any project in which you suspect the presence of asbestos you should first try to determine whether the material contains asbestos. Avoid disturbing the material if at all possible.
“In some cases, you may want to have the material analyzed. Such analysis may be desirable if you have a large area of damaged material or if you are preparing a major renovation that will expose material contained behind a wall or other barrier.”
If you suspect that you have been exposed to asbestos and have any symptoms of mesothelioma, please contact our asbestos law firm to talk to one of our knowledgeable and caring mesothelioma attorneys that specialize in handling such cases.
