Asbestos Paper Used on Roofs

The use of asbestos in roofing has some interesting history.

Since the early 1900’s manufactures have used asbestos in different forms of roofing materials from tiles, mastic and roofing paper just to mention a few. Today I wanted to share a picture I took in 2004 in Elk Grove CA. Not that long ago, and yes, there are still roofs out there with this asbestos product on them. It is a picture of a cedar shake roof looking at missing ridge cap. We called this white paper Nicolet. The roofing paper contains asbestos, is a product I am familiar with since I installed hundreds of squares of these rolls when I was a union shingler in the seventies. It was used primarily on steep slope commercial buildings when we installed cedar shakes. The use of the Nicolet paper in residential roofing was far less.

This asbestos roofing paper was designed to gain a fire rating with the use of wood roofing. In this case, it is sometimes called shake liner and was enter-woven with the cedar shakes. Along with being fire-resistant, it was known for having great tensile strength and resisting tears. It was perfect for gaining a fire-rated roof. Little did we know the issues that would become known about asbestos later.

I hated using it because it was so reflective. Being white, it hurt your eyes and was different from the black tar paper we used before and still do presently. This product shows up when this roof needs to be replaced.

Please do not dump asbestos into our landfills.

It is said that disturbing this roof can cause the asbestos to be friable, meaning spreading asbestos fibers into the air. Airborne asbestos can be a hazard to you and the public’s health.

These roofs by law must be handled by a licensed abatement company. Asbestos abatement companies can be found by any Google search or call a roofing professional.

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