Before the 1980s most artificial roofing slate was made from asbestos cement a material that had a long track record of successful performance.
Non asbestos roof slates.
Slate hooks work well for fastening replacement tiles in place.
When the use of asbestos became forbidden manufacturers rushed to replace asbestos containing products with cement based products reinforced with non asbestos materials.
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.
A ladder hook is inexpensive and works pretty well on asbestos roofs.
The slates are pigmented during production and are fully compressed.
On diamond shaped tiles use two hooks one at 4 o clock and one at 8 o clock see below.
Health safety concerns related to the removal of asbestos containing roofs.
Asbestos and its hazards asbestos is a naturally occurring substance.
Their color ranges between grey light green peachy orange and even purple.
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.
A number of these products promising a life of 50 years or longer were found to fail early in their life in the 1990s.