Asbestos in your home

The following products, fittings and installations used in homes may contain some asbestos:

Textured plasters, materials for stippling ceilings, walls, etc.

Some of these products may contain typically between 2% and 5% asbestos. Once installed, such products should not be removed but painted to keep them sealed.

Domestic equipment

Asbestos has been used in the manufacture of simmering pads, oven gloves and fire blankets. Ovens, ironing boards and heaters may have asbestos components, as may some friction materials (e.g. clutch pads and brake pads).

Asbestos lagging

Asbestos lagging has been used for insulating pipes and boilers, and may be encountered in older flats or houses. A preliminary inspection for asbestos should be made before any repair or removal of older central heating systems.

Insulating boards

Asbestos insulating board has been used for fire protection, heat insulation, ceiling tiles and as a building board.

Sprayed asbestos

Sprayed asbestos has been used for protecting structural steelwork and for insulation. It may be found, for example, in steel framed houses built before the mid-1970s.

Warm air heating systems

Asbestos insulation was used in some systems and for lining cupboards housing heater units.

Other building materials

Some plastic floor tiles, cushion flooring, roofing felts, paints, jointings and packings - e.g. boiler and flue sealing, ropes and yarns used for lagging - may contain asbestos.

Asbestos cement

Flat or corrugated sheeting containing Asbestos has been used for garage and shed roofs and wall coverings. Moulded asbestos cement has been used for cold water tanks, external rainwater pipes, asbestos cement slates, guttering, decking, lining under eaves and flue pipes. Asbestos cement is used in roofing materials, pressure sewerage and drainage pipes and wall and roof covering materials. Asbestos cement products normally contain between 10% and 15% asbestos.