When and Why Was Asbestos Actually Used in Homes?

People who grew up in postwar North America had asbestos all around them, because the 1950s and 1960s were peak-use years for this dangerous material.

Although I don’t know for sure, it was probably abundant in the walls and ceilings of my childhood home. A gray coating wrapped around our old oil furnace and its ductwork matched the classic description of asbestos insulation. That house was demolished in 1967 to make way for expansion of the local university.

Several homes of the same vintage in that neighborhood are still standing, however, and it’s a good bet there’s asbestos in many of them. The problem extended far from my Midwestern neighborhood; in 1995, my partner and I cleared asbestos insulation from the attic of a house we renovated in Colorado.

Insulation is one of the more dangerous asbestos products, and it isn’t easy to identify. Asbestos expert Michelle Whitmer cautions owners of older homes should hire professionals to test suspicious materials instead of relying on DIY testing kits. Lots of other 20th Century products may contain asbestos, including wallboard, joint compound, paint, floor and ceiling tiles.

When Was Asbestos Used in Homes?

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral, so it’s no surprise that people have known about it and used it for thousands of years.

Asbestos fibers reinforce other materials, like clay. Because they don’t burn, people wove them into fire-protective clothing and cooking gear. Asbestos use exploded in the 1800s when large deposits were found worldwide, including the United States and Canada. Mechanized mining techniques developed around that time made extracting asbestos easier.

The Johns Company, which merged with the Manville Covering Company in 1901 to become Johns-Manville, began making asbestos roofing material in 1858. United States Gypsum started incorporating asbestos into drywall and drywall joint compound in the 1920s.

These and other products found their way into homes built at the time. After World War II, the production of asbestos-containing building materials became widespread.

Efforts to curtail asbestos use began in the mid-1970s and continued into the 1980s, putting the period of peak usage between 1940 and 1980. Some common products from that period containing asbestos, according to Whitmer, include:

• Cement board;
• Roofing felt;
• Insulation;
• Vinyl floor tiles;
• Textured paint.

Insulation is probably the most problematic.

“The types of insulation in homes most likely to contain asbestos include loose-fill vermiculite insulation and wrap insulation commonly found around pipes and A/C units,” Whitmer says. “Some homes may have spray-on or block insulation containing asbestos, but these materials were most common in commercial buildings.”

Why Was Asbestos Used in Homes?

Manufacturers used asbestos for several reasons:

• It’s cheap;
• It reinforces materials to make them stronger;
• It resists moisture, chemicals, fire and electricity;
• It insulates against heat and sound.

In most applications, asbestos was embedded in another material, like cement, vinyl or gypsum. As long as it stays embedded, the U.S. Consumer Product and Safety Commission says it’s not necessarily a problem. It only becomes hazardous when the fibers become airborne. This can happen when materials crumble and deteriorate, or they’re disturbed during renovation.

Whitmer says homeowners should avoid disturbing materials that may contain asbestos. “If the material is crumbling, wetting it will limit dust until professionals can inspect it,” she says. Drilling into drywall, removing popcorn ceiling texture, cutting through pipe insulation, renovating an attic or removing vinyl floor tiles can be hazardous if asbestos is present.

When Did the Dangers of Asbestos Come To Light?

As early as 1897, an Austrian doctor linked a patient’s pulmonary problems to asbestos inhalation. In 1906, the first death, of a factory worker, was attributed to asbestos inhalation.

By 1908, people realized asbestos workers were dying young, and insurance companies began to reduce benefits and increase premiums for them. These revelations had little effect on the industry, which tripled production from 1900 to 1910.

In the 1930s, medical evidence existed that linked asbestos inhalation to lung disease. At that time, production had fallen off due to the Great Depression.

When production resumed in the 1940s, manufacturers still had enough confidence in asbestos to include it in cigarette filters. But evidence of its hazards continued to build through the 1960s, finally leading to action by the U.S. Congress in the 1970s.

When Was Asbestos Banned From Use in Homes?

Asbestos has never been completely banned in the United States, but there have been several efforts to do so. The first was the Clean Air Act of 1970, which established the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP). Asbestos spray materials and pipe insulation were banned in the 1970s.

The Consumer Product Safety Act of 1972 established the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which banned asbestos fireplace embers and wall patching compounds.

Subsequent legislation gradually increased the scope of asbestos prohibitions. The EPA, empowered by the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, attempted a blanket ban of asbestos products in 1989. A court overturned the ban in 1991, and several uses were still allowed, mostly in the automobile industry.

Other efforts to curtail asbestos use died in Congress. In 2019, the EPA issued a final rule discontinuing the sale and use of new building materials containing asbestos.

About the Expert

• Michelle Whitmer is an asbestos expert who writes for the Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com. She has more than 14 years of experience covering medical and environmental issues.