What is asbestos and where does it hide in a house?

Asbestos is the collective name for minerals that occur in nature as bundles of fibres.^[1] It withstands heat of up to 1,000 °C, resists chemicals, is a good thermal and electrical insulator, and is cheap.^[1] For these reasons it was used to make more than 3,000 different products.^[2] Today we know that all types of asbestos cause cancer.^[3]

What is asbestos

Asbestos comprises silicate minerals with a fibrous structure.^[4] When processed mechanically, the fibres split lengthwise into ever finer particles that the body finds hard to break down and remove.^[1] Asbestos is not typically found as a natural mineral in Latvia, so all the asbestos found here was imported, mainly from Russia (the Urals) and Kazakhstan.^[4][2]

Types of asbestos

Asbestos minerals are divided into two groups:^[1]

EU legislation defines asbestos as exactly these six fibrous silicates.^[6] The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has concluded that all types of asbestos cause cancer in humans.^[3]

Why the fibres are dangerous

Under the WHO definition, the fibres critical to health are those longer than 5 micrometres, with a diameter of less than 3 micrometres and a length-to-width ratio greater than 3:1.^[1][6] Directive (EU) 2023/2668 requires fibres to be counted by electron microscopy, and from 21 December 2029 at the latest very thin fibres (under 0.2 µm) must also be taken into account.^[6][7]

Where asbestos hides in a house

In Latvia, asbestos is most often found in roof coverings, insulation materials, floor and ceiling coverings, vehicle brake pads and even garden ornaments and equipment.^[9] In houses built or renovated before 2000, it may also be present in the following places:^[10]

1. Slate roofs: on houses, sheds, saunas and garages.
2. Asbestos-cement facade and wall panels, including under later cladding.
3. Chimney flues and ventilation pipes made of asbestos cement.
4. Rain gutters and downpipes.
5. Thermal insulation on heating pipes in basements and heating substations.
6. Asbestos-cement drinking water and sewer pipes.^[2]
7. Stoves and cookers: seals, asbestos rope for the doors, insulating boards.
8. Electrical distribution boards: the insulating panel behind old meters.
9. Old floor tiles and their adhesive.
10. Partition, ceiling and fire-resistant boards, including around boilers and behind radiators.

If you are planning to renovate an old building, first find out where the asbestos is. Under Directive (EU) 2023/2668, before demolition, maintenance or renovation of buildings constructed before the asbestos ban, the employer must establish where asbestos may be present, in particular by asking the building owner.^[6][7]

How to recognise it

• Asbestos-containing materials are most often greyish, with a fibrous structure, and fairly friable when damaged.^[9]
• It cannot be reliably identified by eye, so suspect material should be reported to a qualified specialist.^[9]
• Samples for testing are taken from damaged material.^[9] Afterwards the damaged spot is sealed with water, a special solution or adhesive so that fibres are not released.^[11]

When was asbestos banned?

• 1973IARC experts conclude that there is sufficient evidence that asbestos is carcinogenic to humans.^[1]
• 1988Hungary bans amphibole asbestos; it bans the use of chrysotile only in 2005, together with the other new EU Member States.^[12]
• 2000In Latvia, Cabinet Regulation No. 158 of 25 April 2000 bans the sale and use of asbestos and asbestos-containing materials from 1 January 2001. Products already installed may stay in place but must be labelled. Even so, at least 1,380 tonnes of asbestos were still imported into Latvia in 2001.^[4][12]
• 2005From 1 January, the placing on the market and use of chrysotile is also banned throughout the EU (Directive 1999/77/EC); amphibole asbestos had been banned earlier.^[1][2]
• 2006The EU bans the extraction of asbestos and the manufacture of asbestos products (Directive 2003/18/EC).^[1]
• 2023Directive (EU) 2023/2668 cuts the occupational exposure limit tenfold, from 0.1 to 0.01 fibres/cm³; Member States must apply it from 21 December 2025.^[6][7]
• 2025Cabinet Regulation No. 731 of 9 December 2025 amends Cabinet Regulation No. 852, transposing Directive (EU) 2023/2668: a new exposure limit, a VDI permit for removal work, fibre counting by electron microscopy and identification of asbestos before work begins.^[13][14]

The ban applies to new products. Asbestos already present in buildings does not have to be removed automatically,^[12] but it must be handled responsibly, and safety requirements must be followed during demolition or renovation.

Asbestos in the world today

Although asbestos is banned in the EU, it is still mined elsewhere in the world. The US Geological Survey estimates that about 960,000 tonnes of asbestos were mined in 2025: about 310,000 t in Russia, about 250,000 t each in Kazakhstan and China, and about 150,000 t in Brazil.^[15] 74 countries have banned asbestos completely (IBAS, June 2026).^[16] British Geological Survey data show that in 2000–2010 several countries in the region, Latvia among them, were still importing asbestos.^[1]

Asbestos can be replaced with synthetic and natural fibres such as polyvinyl alcohol, polypropylene and cellulose.^[1]