Asbestos Roofing — Asbestos Exposure Crosswalk

What This Equipment Is

Asbestos appeared in several distinct roofing product families:

  • Asbestos-cement roofing sheet — corrugated panels for industrial roofs
  • Asbestos-cement roof shingles — residential / light commercial
  • Built-up roof (BUR) felts — asphalt-saturated felt sheets containing asbestos fiber, layered and mopped with hot asphalt to form a low-slope membrane
  • Roof coatings and mastics — asphalt-based coatings with asbestos fiber, used to seal, patch, and recoat existing roofs
  • Flashing cement — fiber-reinforced mastic used at penetrations, parapets, and edge details

From the 1920s through the early 1980s these materials roofed a large fraction of American industrial, commercial, and residential construction. Industrial facilities — particularly the kind documented across the MesoWatch state-site network — typically used corrugated asbestos-cement sheet for warehouse and process-area roofs and built-up asbestos felt with asphalt mastic for low-slope office and equipment-housing roofs.

Why Roofing Work Was a High-Exposure Activity

Different roofing products had different exposure patterns.

Asbestos-cement panels and shingles released fiber during cutting (saw or shears), drilling fastener holes, tear-off, and breakage from foot traffic or weather damage.

Built-up roof felts released fiber during the original lay-up (cutting felt to size, unrolling, mopping in hot asphalt) and — far more intensively — during tear-off and re-roofing. The aged, brittle felt fractured during removal, releasing decades-old chrysotile into the breathing zones of the roofers and ground-level workers below.

Roof coatings and mastics were brush-applied or trowel-applied; fiber release during application was modest, but mechanical disturbance during repair or removal — scraping coatings off, grinding for adhesion of a new coat — generated significant exposure.

Manufacturers Named in Roofing-Product Litigation

  • Johns-Manville — roofing felts, asbestos-cement roofing, coatings
  • Flintkote — roofing products
  • GAF Materials Corporation — roofing felts and coatings (G-A-F successor)
  • CertainTeed — roofing products including asbestos-cement
  • National Gypsum — roofing-related products
  • Celotex — built-up roofing felts and accessories
  • Bird & Son — roofing products

Documented Product References

Images sourced from publicly available product-identification reference materials. Inclusion does not constitute a finding of liability against any company.

Trust Funds That May Apply

  • Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust
  • Flintkote Asbestos PI Trust
  • Celotex Asbestos Settlement Trust
  • National Gypsum / NGC Bodily Injury Trust

Trades Most Exposed at Roofing Work

Roofers (the primary trade), built-up roofing crews, asbestos-cement panel installers, sheet-metal workers handling roof flashings and penetrations, tear-off and re-roofing crews, building demolition workers.

Jobsites in the Network Documenting Asbestos Roofing

Compiled from publicly filed asbestos litigation, EPA / state-DNR records, and industry-publication histories. Product and company references reflect what has been alleged or documented in publicly filed litigation. This page does not constitute a finding of liability against any company. Not legal advice; consult a licensed attorney about your specific situation.