Non Asbestos Roof Slates

A ladder hook is inexpensive and works pretty well on asbestos roofs.

Non asbestos roof slates.

The slates are pigmented during production and are fully compressed. Before the 1980s most artificial roofing slate was made from asbestos cement a material that had a long track record of successful performance. On diamond shaped tiles use two hooks one at 4 o clock and one at 8 o clock see below. The asbestos fibers inside slates can only be released when they are broken and this roofing material does not necessarily require removal although many people choose to do it.

When the use of asbestos became forbidden manufacturers rushed to replace asbestos containing products with cement based products reinforced with non asbestos materials. A number of non asbestos manufactured or synthetic slates or fiber cement roof shingles slate tiles that were produced when manufacturers stopped using asbestos were made using wood fibers or other materials. Their color ranges between grey light green peachy orange and even purple. A number of these products promising a life of 50 years or longer were found to fail early in their life in the 1990s.

Asbestos and its hazards asbestos is a naturally occurring substance. Health safety concerns related to the removal of asbestos containing roofs. New homes built prior to 1970 s with asbestos roofs were lauded for the longevity of their roof systems as the roofs had a life expectancy of 30 50 years.