Popcorn Ceiling Asbestos Under Microscope

Manufacturers switched to paper.

Popcorn ceiling asbestos under microscope. Popcorn ceiling is a friable material meaning it is very easy to damage. Not all popcorn ceilings contain asbestos. Many of these ceilings were made partially out of asbestos a silicate material which was banned in many countries starting in the 1970s.

Blown on textured ceilings aka popcorn may contain asbestos depending on when they were installed. In the late 1970s the use of asbestos in building products was banned because of the health. Photographs provided on this page illustrate what asbestos fibers or fragments may look like under the polarized light microscope.

In this article we provide photographs and descriptive text of asbestos insulation and other asbestos containing products to permit identification of definite probable or possible asbestos materials in buildings. Asbestos can cause many health problems including lung cancer so it s very important to test your ceilings if they were built prior to the ban. It s a job best left to qualified professionals.

Popcorn ceilings were a popular feature of 1960s and 1970s homes. Any percentage of asbestos makes popcorn ceiling dangerous. If you have a popcorn ceiling that contains asbestos in your home you can safely encapsulate it by painting or texturing over top.

Its use in textured paint was banned in 1977 by the consumer product safety commission so yours might not contain the substance if your home was constructed later than that. If your home was built in the 1990s or more recently you can proceed to clean it yourself. There is no way to tell if you have asbestos in your ceiling unless you have a sample analyzed.

The people who work with the material are the most likely to develop an asbestos related disease. Asbestos becomes dangerous when the microscopic fibers are released into the air and then ingested or inhaled. Removing asbestos popcorn ceiling requires many precautions.