The use of asbestos was banned in Finland in 1994. The ban was preceded by a gradual restriction of its use, and the rule of thumb is that buildings built or renovated before 1994 may contain asbestos. That is why it pays to find out whether old materials contain asbestos before a renovation or demolition.
What is asbestos?
Asbestos is a collective name for six mineral fibres. They are divided into two main groups: serpentine asbestos, which includes only chrysotile, and the amphibole asbestos types, which are amosite, crocidolite, anthophyllite, tremolite and actinolite. Chrysotile has historically been by far the most common type of asbestos. All types of asbestos are carcinogenic. Read more on the types of asbestos page.
Asbestos was added to building materials, among other things, to improve their strength and heat resistance. The problem is the tiny size of the fibres: when the material breaks, the fibres can travel with the air you breathe into your lungs. Exposure to asbestos can cause serious diseases such as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. These diseases usually appear only a long time after exposure.
When was the use of asbestos banned in Finland?
The use of asbestos was restricted gradually in Finland, and in 1994 its use was banned. The restrictions and the ban were driven by the health hazards of asbestos. The asbestos ban applied to the use of new asbestos-containing materials. It did not require asbestos materials already in buildings to be removed, which is why they are still found in many houses, flats and other buildings.
This creates a threshold that is still used in practice: if a building was built or renovated before 1994, its materials may contain asbestos. Newer buildings can also contain asbestos if old materials were left in the structures during a renovation.
When was asbestos used the most?
Asbestos was widely used in Finnish construction from the 1920s right up to the early 1990s. Buildings from the 1960s to the 1980s in particular contain asbestos in many different materials. Typical places include:
- tile adhesives and grouts in bathrooms and kitchens,
- wall and ceiling fillers,
- plastic floor coverings, vinyl tiles and their adhesives,
- pipe insulation,
- asbestos cement sheets, such as eternit sheets,
- insulation and seals in ventilation ducts.
Materials are often layered: the same wall or floor may have been covered several times over different decades. You can find a more detailed list in the article where asbestos can be found.
Does an old house always mean asbestos?
No. Although a house built before 1994 may contain asbestos, not all materials from that period contain it. An adhesive or filler that looks the same may contain asbestos in one building and be clean in another.
The renovation history also matters. For example, the bathroom of a 1970s house may have been renewed in the 2000s, in which case its surfaces date from after the ban. On the other hand, beneath new surfaces there may be old layers, such as filler or adhesive, that were left in place. That is why every layer to be removed is worth assessing separately.
Why does the year 1994 still matter?
Intact asbestos material poses no danger in normal living, because the fibres are bound into the material. The risk arises when the material is demolished, drilled, sanded or broken. That is exactly what happens during renovations, and renovations often involve older buildings where asbestos may be present.
That is why the law requires the presence of asbestos to be investigated before demolition work in buildings built before 1994. The key provisions are the Act on certain requirements concerning asbestos removal work (684/2015) and the Government Decree on the safety of asbestos work (798/2015). The obligation to investigate also applies to small home renovations in which old materials are removed. Requirements have tightened under the EU asbestos exposure directive (EU) 2023/2668: the binding limit value of 0.01 fibres/cm³ applies to all asbestos work from 21 December 2025, and from 21 December 2026 fibres in air samples must be counted with an electron microscope. Read more in the article asbestos legislation in Finland.
The year is only a guideline, however. It tells you when there is reason to suspect asbestos, but not whether your particular tile adhesive or filler contains it. That is why it pays to investigate the materials to be removed as early as the planning stage of a renovation, so that the schedule and costs hold no surprises.
How do you know if your house contains asbestos?
Asbestos cannot be identified by eye, by smell or by how the material feels. The year of construction tells you whether there is reason to suspect asbestos, but only a laboratory analysis gives certainty. If the year of construction is not known, you can usually find it out from the property manager, the building's documents or the municipal building control authority, for example.
- Find out the year of construction and when earlier renovations were done.
- Identify the materials the renovation will affect. If they date from before 1994, have them tested.
- Take a small sample while protecting yourself, following the sampling instructions. For a multi-layer structure, include all the layers.
- Send the sample to the laboratory and wait for the result before starting any demolition work.
If the result is positive, do not remove the material yourself. Removing asbestos-containing material is licensed work that may only be done by a company authorised to carry out asbestos removal. If the material is intact and no renovation is planned, it can usually be left in place. A negative result, on the other hand, means the material can be handled in the normal way. In an extensive renovation with many materials to be removed, an asbestos survey is usually needed, in which all possible asbestos materials are checked systematically.
Onelab analyses samples with a JEOL SEM-EDS electron microscope, which identifies all six types of asbestos. The analysis costs €39.90 + VAT per sample. The same price applies to orders of 1–100 samples, and for projects of more than 100 samples the price is negotiable. The result is emailed to you typically on the same day the sample arrives at the laboratory. Postage is not included in the price. You can order the analysis online and send the sample by post.