Before purchasing real estate or conducting renovation or demolition work, identifying hazardous materials is conducted as a standard practice. In older buildings, asbestos may often be the most significant environmental contaminant present. Ignoring potential asbestos hazards can be very costly.

Because renovation and demolition work will disturb building materials, before work occurs inspection and sampling of those materials that are suspected of containing asbestos is necessary and mandated by regulation.

Asbestos was used widely throughout the 1940s to 1960s. Some of the most popular products are friable, or easily crumbled, such as pipe and related thermal insulations, textured plasters, ceiling tile, and fireproofing. Because these types of asbestos products are easily disturbed and asbestos fibers made airborne, most of them were banned in the mid 1970s by the EPA. During the 1980s, the EPA attempted to ban all asbestos products, including non-friable materials. Although courts overturned EPA bans on many of the non-friable asbestos products, their use in the United States has been phased out so they are seldom seen in new installations. It is not unusual, however, to find asbestos in some adhesives and asphalt roofing materials. Other non-friable asbestos containing materials, such as floor tile and cement board, may be legal to install, but have been almost completely replaced by other products.