What to Expect When Having Asbestos Removed From Your Home
Just hearing the word asbestos gets a lot of people’s attention. We’ve all heard about how dangerous it is, and most of us also know that it was once very frequently used. If you live in an older home, you might have some questions about asbestos testing and the asbestos removal process.
What Is Asbestos and Why Was It So Widely Used?
Many people think of asbestos as a single substance, but it can actually be any of six different naturally occurring minerals. The fibrous nature of these minerals is what makes it such a useful material. It has been used in construction, automotive, and industrial applications because when it is added to various products, it strengthens them and provides both heat insulation and fire resistance.
Asbestos was commonly used because it was very effective. As an example, asbestos was formerly contained in a strong glue used in the installation of vinyl flooring. While we no longer use this glue due to its risks, we have still not been able to develop a glue that is as powerful.
As we all know now, asbestos poses a serious health risk. However, because it was so frequently used for such a long time, many structures around the country still contain asbestos.
Where You Might Find Asbestos
The only way to know for sure if there is asbestos in a structure is to send a sample to a lab for testing. However, there are certain items and materials that are more likely to contain it if they were manufactured before 1980. These include:
- Home insulation
- Textured paint and wall patching
- Vinyl floor tiles
- Vinyl floor adhesives
- Blankets or tape used to insulate water heaters and steam pipes
- Walls and floors near wood-burning stoves
- Roofing shingles and siding
- Automobile brakes
- Heat resistant fabrics
Why Asbestos Is No Longer Used in Construction
Although asbestos is not dangerous when it is contained within various products, once it gets into the air, it is very hazardous. If you look at asbestos under a microscope, its fine particles have a very jagged appearance. When these particles become airborne, they can be swallowed or inhaled.
Once inside your body, asbestos particles can cause damage and inflammation. This eventually leads to serious diseases such as lung cancer, asbestosis—scarring of the lung tissue—or mesothelioma—a form of abdominal cancer. It may take decades for symptoms to appear, but these illnesses are very serious.
People have known as early as the 1900s that asbestos might be a health hazard. In 1918, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report stating that people who worked with asbestos had an abnormally high risk of early death. In 1930, asbestosis was first discovered, and in 1943, the first mesothelioma-like tumor was reported. Yet it wasn’t until 1971 that Congress approved the Clean Air Act, allowing the EPA to regulate asbestos as a hazardous air pollutant.
Today, asbestos is still used in the US in very limited applications. It is no longer used in construction, but it often has to be removed from buildings constructed before 1971.
The Asbestos Removal Process
Before an asbestos removal project can begin, your structure needs to be inspected and tested for asbestos. It is impossible to know if a material contains asbestos unless it is either labeled or positively identified in a lab.
It’s best to leave the job of identifying asbestos to people who have the training and equipment to do it properly. These trained professionals will take samples of materials to analyze them for the presence of asbestos.
If asbestos is found and needs to be removed, a professional asbestos removal team is your best bet. If you start trying to remove materials yourself, you could cause fragments of asbestos to break off into the air, making the situation much worse. Amateur asbestos removal creates a hazardous environment for you and your family.
Sealing the Area
When beginning the asbestos removal process, your removal team will start by thoroughly sealing off any areas known to contain asbestos with thick plastic sheets. This is critically important, as asbestos is not dangerous until it gets into the air. Removing materials often causes particles to become airborne.
The removal team will turn off your structure’s HVAC system to reduce the possibility of asbestos being spread to the rest of the house. They will also use a HEPA filtration system in order to keep the air as clean as possible.
Carefully Removing Materials
After the affected area has been sealed, the removal team will put on protective clothing and respirators for their safety. Then they will begin removing any materials that contain asbestos. This might include insulation, flooring, or even textured paint. They will place the materials they remove in sealed disposal containers. The containers will then be removed from your structure.
Thoroughly Cleaning the Contaminated Site
After the team confirms that they have removed all contaminated materials, they thoroughly clean the site to remove any traces of asbestos. With the area sealed, a vacuum system creates negative pressure in the area, first pushing air through a HEPA filtration system and then venting it outside.
After the cleaning process is complete, the team conducts an air test to make sure that no trace of asbestos remains. Once your structure passes this final test, you can rest assured that all of the dangerous contaminants are gone.
It may be a bit frightening to think that this dangerous, cancer-causing material could be in the floor beneath your feet, in the attic over your head, or in the walls that surround you. However, there’s no need to panic. If you live in an older home and you worry it may contain some asbestos, asking an asbestos removal expert to conduct tests is a good first step to making your home a safer place to live.
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