Determine the age of your home by looking at the property deed or any other records about its construction.
How to determine if siding is asbestos or not.
Also look around the siding roofing and soffit materials for small dimples or shallow craters on the surface which are signs of asbestos.
If a homeowner suspects that his or her home siding contains asbestos the homeowner may contact certified professionals to test the siding to determine if that is the case.
Contractors and inspectors or anyone identifying asbestos siding can t tell from just an on site inspection whether or not your siding really has asbestos in it.
The only way to be sure whether your siding contains asbestos is to have it tested.
The only true way to identify asbestos siding is to have it tested.
Generally if one is to discover that asbestos has been used in one s home for siding it should not be a cause for panic if the material is still in good shape.
It does have some characteristics too look for.
Look online for a lab near you to have a test performed on your siding and ensure the safety of your home and family.
The only way to be sure if your siding has asbestos in it is to collect a sample and send it to an accredited testing lab.
You can easily send a sample to a lab is you suspect that it may contain asbestos.
It is ususally in a shingle shake form 12 x24.
Many manufacturers made their products to look like asbestos free products so it is not really possible to determine if your siding contains asbestos just by looks.
How to identify asbestos siding.
To determine if your building has asbestos check areas where the material was most commonly used like the roof bathroom and basement.
Generally it requires either a lab test or inspection by a pro to determine if asbestos is present or not.
It may be smooth or have a pressed wood grain pattern on the surface of the board.
While an expert lab test using polarized light microscopy may be needed to identify the specific type of asbestos fiber or to identify the presence of asbestos in air or dust samples many asbestos containing building products not only are obvious and easy to recognize but since there were not other look alike products that were not asbestos a visual identification of this material can be virtually a certainty in many cases.
Most siding created after the 1960s did not include asbestos.
Look specifically for any printed information that identifies the siding manufacturer or date of installation.