Vinyl Wallpaper Asbestos

In the late 1970s when it was made widely known how toxic asbestos was vinyl wallpaper was no longer manufactured using asbestos but products containing the deadly mineral continued to be sold through the 1980s.

Vinyl wallpaper asbestos. Today it is possible to use vinyl wallpaper without toxicity concerns. The wondrous new no wax flooring sold by companies such as congoleum put a glossy sheen on post war american prosperity. However if the wallpaper is in a high traffic area or touched frequently it s a good idea to remove it as this is likely to cause exposure. Removing old wallpaper can be down right dangerous.

Dried asbestos fibers in vinyl wallpaper can broke down and crumble. This old wallpaper as well as the wallpaper paste contained some form of asbestos. Older buildings may still have asbestos containing wallpaper on their interior walls. If you are in a home where vinyl wallpaper was hung prior to the late 90s then there is a good chance it has asbestos in it.

If done incorrectly it can release the asbestos in to your home. In those cases it was actually. For about 35 years flooring companies included asbestos when they manufactured the vinyl tiles. Asbestos has been used in vinyl wallpaper since the 1920s and vinyl floor tiles and sheet flooring rose to prominence in the 1950s.

Asbestos is a mineral that lends fireproofing qualities to any substance it is mixed with. This friable state can turn to dust and release millions of microscopic asbestos fibers into the room. If you are thinking about buying new wallpaper and wondering if it has asbestos in it the answer is no. If present it would be in the backing.

But the flooring companies aim wasn t so much to make the floor tiles fireproof as it was to make the tiles more durable. For wallpaper asbestos would be found in the finest wallpaper usually found in large 40 room houses not a typical flat. In addition to being so cheap asbestos was desirable because asbestos is heat resistant making your house safer from fire though not making it safe from asbestos exposure. Asbestos was used in vinyl wallpaper because it was cheap lightweight durable and fire resistant.