asbestos Archives - Pretty Handy Girl

Asbestos is a word you hear thrown around once in a while usually before or during home renovations. It’s important that you understand what Asbestos is, where it can be found, and the removal process. Today let’s learn about Asbestos Removal – Everything You Wanted to Know and More!

Asbestos Removal – Everything You Wanted to Know and More

This is the post that I’ve been putting off writing. Why? A few weeks ago I was still dealing with the shock of discovering we have asbestos in our home. If you think your home is safe from asbestos, you could be dead wrong! Our house was built in 1978, therefore I thought our home was in the asbestos-free time frame, but I was sorely mistaken.

How we discovered asbestos in our home

What started as a small leak turned into a full gut of our kitchen. The disaster restoration team came in and started assessing the damage. What happened next was a downward spiral of issues I pray never happens to you. The polybutylene pipe failure from two weeks ago turned into a full blown mold remediation (luckily it wasn’t black mold.) Shortly after removing the wet base cabinets in our kitchen, the contractor discovered a layer of old vinyl flooring under our flooring. He told me that they sent a sample to the lab for asbestos testing. I thought, “No big deal”, and dismissed it knowing that our house couldn’t possibly contain asbestos. The next morning I got a phone call, “The lab results came back and that old flooring tested positive for asbestos.”

What I learned over the next few days about asbestos both scared me and also gave me peace of mind knowing that the contractors had handled the asbestos removal properly. Now that our home is officially asbestos-free and we’ve finally moved back into the house, I’m emotionally ready to share with you what I learned. Let’s chat about Asbestos Removal – Everything You Wanted to Know and More.

Asbestos fibers under a microscope courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

What is asbestos?

(source: EPA.gov)
Asbestos is a mineral fiber. It can be positively identified only with a special type of microscope. There are several types of asbestos fibers. In the past, asbestos was added to a variety of products to strengthen them and to provide heat insulation and fire resistance. Asbestos as a building material made sense before it was discovered to cause health problems. It was heat and fire resistant and the glues that contain asbestos work REALLY well. You can’t get glue for vinyl flooring today that sticks as well as the asbestos based glues. But, because of the health hazards you’ll learn about in a minute, asbestos products have been banned in the US.

When was asbestos discovered to be a health hazard?

Back in the early 1900’s asbestos was suspected to be a health hazard. In 1924, a UK citizen was the first person diagnosed with Asbestosis (progressive fibrosis of the lungs.) In 1931, the term Mesothelioma (a rare form of cancer) was used in medical literature. But, the risks and dangers of asbestos were swept under the rug and hidden until the 1970’s. Finally, in 1989 asbestos was phased out of building materials and eventually banned in 2003. That is almost 80 years after the dangers of asbestos were first discovered! Before the ban, asbestos was used in almost a million residences and buildings. Sadly, over 100,000 people have become ill or died from asbestos exposure.

The bottom line is that your home could have asbestos products even if it was built in 2003 or earlier. The asbestos abatement team told me that just because there was a ban placed on the use of asbestos, there were still products containing it on store shelves. For this reason, you should never assume that your home is asbestos-free. It is much safer to have a professional test for asbestos than risk exposure.

What products contain asbestos?

Roofing and siding materials
Some roofing and siding shingles are made of asbestos cement
Insulation of a home built between 1930-1950
Attic and wall insulation as vermiculite ore
Textured paint and wall patching
Artificial ashes and embers used in gas fireplaces
Old stove-top pads
Walls and floors around woodburning stoves can have asbestos fiber, millwork or concrete pads
Vinyl floor tiles and the backing on vinyl sheet flooring
Vinyl floor adhesives
Asbestos blanket or tape on hot water and steam pipes in older homes
Oil and coal furnaces door gasket insulation

(The above list is not a complete list, so it’s advised to test any old building products that are being disturbed during renovations and repairs.)

What to do if you suspect asbestos products in your home:

First of all, don’t freak out. Have the product tested by a professional asbestos abatement company and ask if they can do a quick test on the product. A quick test will require a 1″ sample of the material and use of a PLM (Polarized Light Microscopy) test to look for asbestos fiber structures under a microscope. Alternatively, you can find a local environmental hazard testing company that will test homes for asbestos, lead, mold, and many other environmental hazards.

Results will often report if asbestos is present, what type of asbestos, and the concentration. If you have asbestos flooring that is in good condition (not flaking, damaged or will be tampered with) you can lay new flooring over top of the old floor. In the case of our vinyl flooring, one of the previous owners added new flooring on top of the old. This is acceptable, but it must be disclosed that there is asbestos flooring in the home when the house is sold. I want to emphasize that any asbestos that is sealed and in good condition is not a health hazard. When asbestos product particles become airborne, that’s when there’s a concern.

If you are having renovations, repairs, or a remodel around the material, you will most likely need to have the asbestos removed (or abated.)

How Asbestos is Removed?

It’s best to move out of your home during asbestos abatement. Typically, the abatement team will arrive and seal off the room(s) completely. Doorways, air ducts, and even the windows are sealed with plastic. Big scary asbestos signs are placed on every doorway to deter people from entering.

Giant HEPA filters will likely be installed outside a window or door to pull air out of the room. This creates a negative air pressure which prevents air from escaping into the rest of the house.

The asbestos abatement team wear disposable suits. They will also wear respirators and gloves.

If the material is in the flooring, your floor boards are cut into manageable sections and the edges are taped off to contain the asbestos backing and glue under the vinyl. The sheets are then loaded into a truck for safe transport. (Different asbestos materials may be handled differently.)

All debris is vacuumed up using a special HEPA vacuum. The room is thoroughly cleaned and all cleaning supplies are disposed of in plastic bags. All the contaminated materials, clothing, etc. are hauled back to the abatement company where they are dumped into a special sealed dumpster for asbestos products.

After the abatement team is done, they will strip down and take a shower (usually a portable shower is brought to the job site.) Only after the shower can they put on their regular clothes.

Portable shower for abatement team to use after finishing the job.

An Air test for Asbestos

After abatement is complete, an air test will be performed before anyone can enter the room without protective gear. A TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) or a PCM (Phase Contrast Microscopy) air sample must be analyzed. In our house, a TEM test was used. The technician should be a third party trained professional who puts on his own protective gear. First he may use a leaf blower in the room to stir up any dust and fibers that might have settled on the floor and in crevices. Then a small vacuum pump is run that sucks air through a filter for 45 minutes.

An acceptable asbestos air test will come back with less than .01 fibers per cc. Luckily our home is clear But, now this is our reality:

That’s right, we now have a scooter track in our home. I may miss our kitchen, but the boys don’t seem to mind.

I hope you found this article helpful in learning about Asbestos Removal – Everything You Wanted to Know and More. Let me know if you have any questions and I can try to help answer them. Save this image to refer back to it. Especially if you take on a home renovation or have a leak.

Asbestos Removal – Everything You Wanted to Know and More

If you need to hire an asbestos abatement contractor or any other reputable contractors to work on your home, I highly recommend this article on How to Hire Great Contractors!

See you soon with another update on our kitchen disaster and renovation. Let’s hope things proceed more smoothly from here on out.