This page assists in the recognition of transite pipe used for chimneys or heating flues and discusses potential hazards of this material when it is found in buildings. Transite pipe is an asbestos-cement product which was used for both HVAC ducts and for chimney or flue material to vent gas-fired appliances. In use as a gas-fired appliance chimney/vent transite pipe may have been classed as a type "B" flue vent which required 1" clearance from combustibles. We are looking for a citation to this effect--DF] Cement-asbestos transite pipe may also have been used for water piping in some communities.

Because asbestos cement transite pipe chimneys may have operating and safety problems, concerns completely separate from asbestos handling questions, readers should see our chimney inspection suggestions at CHIMNEY INSPECTION DIAGNOSIS REPAIR.

This is a chapter in our document assists building buyers, owners or inspectors who need to identify asbestos materials (or probable-asbestos) in buildings by simple visual inspection. 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.

While an expert lab test using polarized light microscopy may be needed to identify the specific type of asbestos fiber, or to identify the presence of asbestos in air, dust or drinking water samples, many asbestos-containing building products not only are obvious and easy to recognize, but since there were not other look-alike products that were not asbestos, a visual identification of this material can be virtually a certainty in many cases.

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