We often view asbestos as a hazardous natural material that’s sometimes present in a few different building products like vinyl flooring and roofing materials. However, in reality, hundreds of other products manufactured before 2003 in Aotearoa New Zealand contain asbestos. 

If you’re curious about just how many everyday materials and products containing asbestos may be present in the average residential or commercial structure, let’s explore this A-Z guide below.

A

Out of all asbestos products, those starting with A form the longest list. This is because they begin with ‘asbestos’ to differentiate them from other products like them that don’t contain asbestos.

For example, asbestos ceiling tiles would come under ‘A’ because there are also ceiling tiles that weren’t manufactured with asbestos. 

• Air-conditioning ducts

• Arc shields (from lift motor rooms or electrical cabinets)

• Acid-resistant compositions, aircraft seats, and other asbestos-based plastic products

• Asbestos ceiling tiles

• Asbestos cement (in conduits, electrical fuse boards, roofs and walls, formwork, internal flues, downpipes)

• Asbestos cement moulded products (gutters, gas meter covers, ridge cappings, cable troughs, and more)

• Asbestos cement pieces (between joists and piers)

• Asbestos cement underground pits (for traffic control wiring and telecommunications cabling)

• Asbestos cement render, plaster, mortar, and coursework

• Asbestos cement sheet (behind ceramic tiles, over exhaust canopies, in internal walls and ceilings, as an underlay for vinyl)

• Asbestos cement storm drain and water pipes

• Asbestos-containing laminates (like Formica)

• Asbestos marine board (such as marinate)

• Asbestos-containing pegboard

• Asbestos paper (for insulation, filtering, and fire-resistant laminates production)

• Asbestos felts and yarn

• Asbestos mattresses (for covering hot equipment in power stations)

• Autoclave/steriliser insulation

• Asbestos roof tiles

• Asbestos textiles and textile gussets (in air-conditioning ducting systems)

 

B

There is a wide variety of asbestos products starting with B, including those present in our homes, businesses, and classic vehicles.  

• Bitumen-based waterproofing products (like Malthoid found in roofs, floors, and some brickwork)

• Bituminous sealants and adhesives

• Boiler gaskets

• Boiler insulation, slabs, and wet mix

• Brake disc pads and linings

 

C

A surprising number of everyday home products from before 2000, plus building materials and vehicle parts, contain asbestos.

• Cable penetration insulation bags

• Calorifier insulation

• Car body filters (rare)

• Clutch faces

• Caulking compounds, adhesives, and sealant

• Cement render

• Chrysotile wicks (in kerosene heaters)

• Compressed asbestos cement panels (in flooring, bathrooms, verandas, and demountable building steps)

• Compressed asbestos fibres (in vehicles and plant brakes and gaskets)

 

D

• Door seals (on old ovens)

 

E

It was common for asbestos to be present in electrical products due to its fire-retardant properties.

• Electric heat banks (block insulation)

• Electric hot water services (normally not asbestos)

• Electric light fittings, high wattage, insulation around fitting (and bituminised)

• Electrical switchboards

• Exhausts (on vehicles)

 

F

Asbestos was once described as a miracle product, primarily because of how well it could protect properties and possessions from fire.

• Filler (in acetylene gas cylinders)

• Filters (for beverage and wine filtration)

• Fire blankets and curtains

• Fire door insulation

• Fire-rated wall rendering (asbestos with mortar)

• Fire-resistant plasterboard (on ships)

• Fire-retardant material in the chemical industry (steelwork supporting reactors on columns in refineries)

• Flexible hoses

• Floor vinyl sheets and vinyl tiles

• Fuse blankets and ceramic fuses (in switchboards) 

 

G

• Galbestos™ roofing materials (for soundproofing on metal roofs)

• Gaskets (general, chemicals, and refineries)

• Gauze mats (in laboratories and chemical refineries)

• Gloves (for insulation against heat)

 

H

• Hairdryers (heating element insulation)

• Header (insulation in the manifold)

 

I

Asbestos was a popular form of insulation for decades, especially in Australia.

• Insulation blocks

• Insulation in electric reheat units for air-conditioner systems

 

L

Due to asbestos’s fire resistance and insulating properties, it was a firm favourite in laboratory environments, industrial workplaces, and even in modes of transport like trains.

• Laboratory benchtops

• Laboratory fume cupboard panels

• Laboratory wall insulation (in ovens)

• Lagged exhaust pipes (in emergency power generators)

• Lagging (in fireproof walls)

• Lift shafts (asbestos cement panels lining and asbestos packing around penetrations)

• Limpet asbestos spray insulation

• Locomotives (steam) lagging (boilers, steam lines, steam dome, and gaskets)

 

M

• Mastics

• Millboard (between heating units and walls and switch box lining)

• Mortar

 

P

• Packing materials (square packing, rope, or loose fibre for valves and gauges)

• Packing material on high-rise building window anchorage points

• Paint (generally industrial epoxy paints)

• Penetrations through high-rise building concrete slabs

• Pipe insulation (including moulded sections, water-mix type, rope braid, and sheet)

• Pitch-based electrical switchboards

• Plaster and plaster cornice adhesives

• Pump insulation

 

R

• Refractory linings and tiles

• Rubber articles

S

• Sealant between floor slab and wall (in boiler rooms, risers, or lift shafts)

• Sealant or mastik on windows

• Sealants and mastics (in air-conditioning ducting joints)

• Spackle or plasterboard wall-jointing compounds

• Sprayed insulation (acoustic wall and ceiling, beams, ceiling slabs, on nuts for bolts holding wall panels)

• Stoves (old domestic stove wall insulation)

 

T

• Tape and rope (lagging and jointing)

• Tapered ends of pipe lagging (lagging is not necessarily asbestos)

• Tilux sheeting (in place of ceramic tiles in bathrooms)

• Trailing cable (under lift cabins)

• Trains, guards’ vans, millboard between heater and wall

• Trains – Harris cars (sprayed asbestos between steel shell and Laminex)

 

V

• Valve insulation

 

W

• Welding rods

• Woven asbestos cable sheath

 

Contact Asbestos Removal Experts

Seeing such a long list of products that can potentially contain asbestos is overwhelming. Even though most of these won’t be present in your home, many of them can be.

If you’re about to undertake renovations or repairs around your home, consider hiring an asbestos removal company for asbestos testing. They can identify potential areas within your home that might contain asbestos, take samples, and provide a complete report for peace of mind.