Asbestos roof shingles were installed well before the 1970s and even as late as the 1990s, so if your house, apartment, or business has roof shingles and was built before the 1970s, chances are high that has asbestos tiles.

The problem is to identify whether or not they contain asbestos. Since the asbestos fiber got mixed into the plaster, it’s very hard to tell unless you remove one and take it to a local lab.

Is there any danger with asbestos if it is not removed? Asbestos is really fine as long as it’s not disturbed, but if you’re considering remodeling or renovating, then this is an area to remove, but be very careful about handling them if you’re not sure if they contain asbestos. If you break one, the asbestos filaments will be released for sure. They are microscopic, but once inhaled, they stay inside the lungs and can cause a lung disease called mesothelioma, which is a deadly lung tumor.

A Brief History of Asbestos Asbestos has been around since the first century (well, actually it’s a mineral and it’s been around forever) when the Greeks discovered its tremendous benefits for insulation and many other things, and it’s been used ever since, right up to the 1990s, when factories and asbestos manufacturers discovered that many of their workers were getting sick and dying.

Typical items that contain this toxic mineral are asbestos soffitsvinyl flooring, cement, heating ducts, sprayed plaster on walls and ceilings, textured paints, blown insulation, shingles or shingles, sealers, sprayed fire retardant items, and many thousands of other items.

Asbestos Acoustic Ceiling Panels In the 1960s and 1970s, asbestos ceiling panels were a great success as acoustic panels for apartments and businesses. They were used for suspended ceilings and in this way electrical and cooling and heating ducts could be hidden above them. They looked attractive at the time and had this great benefit, they were widely used. Of course, having ducts run over them could cause the asbestos fiber to swirl around and cause great danger to workers.

Professionals are available to remove asbestos ceiling tiles if necessary or if you want them removed. You can do them yourself, but you’ll need all sorts of decontamination equipment, so the cost of buying or hiring it may outweigh the cost of hiring professionals to do this job for you.