Does Cement Have Asbestos?

History of Asbestos in Building

As far back as the Stone Age, people used asbestos in building materials. Back then, and for many years thereafter, builders of all shapes and sizes used this fibrous mineral to strengthen ceramic pots and other fragile items. Asbestos was a cheap and effective filler useful for many purposes. Charlemagne, an ancient European emperor, supposedly had an asbestos tablecloth. 

During the late 1800s, society changed, and so did asbestos use. Large factories, skyscrapers, and ships typically contained asbestos. This material is a very effective insulation and fireproofing agent. As mining and extraction techniques improved during this period, asbestos became even more abundant and lower priced. These two things caused most builders to overlook potential asbestos health hazards, which were apparent as early as 1899. 

Nevertheless, asbestos was still a popular filler material in a wide range of consumer products, including concrete. Asbestos-laced corrugated cement sheets are a good example. Originally, these sheets had exclusively industrial uses. The prefabricated building materials were cheap, sturdy, and easy to use. Later, as manufacturing became more advanced, these corrugated cement sheets were used as kitchen walls, tabletops, office partition walls, and acoustical panels.

WhatAsbestos and Cement Uses

Builders as far back as ancient Greece and Rome have used cement as a binding agent, much like the mortar between bricks. Its use expanded significantly over the years. Today, other than water, concrete is the most heavily-used resource on the planet. China, a place where health and safety laws are largely nonexistent, produces about half the world's concrete.

On a somewhat related note, water is concrete's Kryptonite, or at least it was for many years. Traditionally, cement did not set well in wet environments. It did not set at all underwater. The invention of hydraulic cements cured this problem.

So shipbuilders and builders in coastal or humid areas needed something to reinforce the concrete they used. That "something" was fibrous asbestos. Moreover, asbestos was more than a filler. As mentioned, it also had insulation and fireproofing qualities. So, using asbestos as a concrete filler was like getting two materials for the price of one.

Asbestos-laced concrete fell into disuse around 1980. By then, the health effects were too well-documented to ignore and hydraulic cements were increasingly available. But pretty much any structure built before then probably had asbestos not only around its pipes, but also in its walls. Additionally, largely due to the aforementioned lack of oversight in production areas, many builders still use this material. Sometimes, they do not know about the tiny asbestos fibers mixed with the cement powder they use so frequently.