Asbestos Found in Roofing Felt

Asbestos was the material of choice for the building industry; as a result, it found multifarious applications and continued to be used in a thousand products till it was banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in the 1980s. Asbestos was linked to fatal diseases and could cause serious illnesses such as asbestosis and mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer. Once the fact came into the public domain, the use of the material reduced but the presence of the material in earlier usage remains even today.

Asbestos Exposure from Roofing Felt

As with so many other building products, asbestos entered the common man’s life in the form of Roofing Felt. And Roofing Felt was woven with asbestos fibers to imbibe commendable qualities like strength, heat-resistance, flexibility, fire-retardancy, insulation, and it also made the product cost effective.

Typically, roofing felt was installed on the flat roofs of large commercial buildings, institutions and schools. The felt was used in the form of large sheets of asbestos material that was painted over with asphalt. The paint sealed the asbestos fibers in place, and they were not a health hazard for those around the area. But the friable nature of the product remains; as a result, deterioration with weathering and aging or any other reason for damage such as renovation would immediately release the minute particles into the air. The workers who installed it in the first place all those years ago were at risk of asbestos exposure, as are the professionals who perform the renovation in present times.

Roofing Felt Containing Asbestos Fibers

More than 20 or 50 years after the initial contact with asbestos, roofers have been known to exhibit the deadly symptoms of the rare malignancy called mesothelioma. Once the asbestos fibers enter the body, they get lodged in the lining of the lungs or stomach or even the heart. Here, they remain festering for many, many years and cause irritation and inflammation that eventually turns malignant. The infected person becomes aware only after symptoms appear like breathlessness, loss of weight, weakness, and others appear and tests reveal the cancer that is generally in the last stages. No cure for the disease exists and only palliative measures can be adopted.

According to a new Environmental Working Group (EWG) study, every day 30 persons die due to asbestos exposure in the U.S. which amounts to almost 10,000 deaths in a year. What is worse, the figures continue to be upwardly mobile, and this is expected to be the scenario well into 2030.