Asbestos Testing and Asbestos Removal in the Home

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Contents - Asbestos Testing and Asbestos Removal in the Home

Asbestos – Do Not Disturb
Relevant Asbestos Laws
Asbestos Testing
Asbestos Removal
Asbestos and Apartment Dwellers

Asbestos – Do Not Disturb

If you think you might have asbestos containing material in your home, the first rule is not to disturb it.

The main asbestos health effects come from the inhalation of microscopic fibers that damage the lungs leading to asbestos disease such as asbestosis and mesothelioma lung cancer.

A building material that is not damaged or is not being disturbed is much less likely to release fibers and cause asbestos exposure.

An overview of asbestos and home building materials is discussed in the article Asbestos in the Home.

Relevant Asbestos Laws

Especially since most materials stopped being manufactured with asbestos in 1978, asbestos laws generally do not apply to private homes.

Some asbestos laws do, however, apply to apartment buildings, and if you live in an apartment you should keep this in mind as you read further because you may have to take a different approach than someone living in a house.

National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) applies to apartment buildings with more than four units as well as to all public buildings. See the Asbestos NESHAPs link at the bottom of the article in the "Other Links" section for more information.

Renovation, demolition, and other activities that may produce airborne pollutants, including asbestos, are regulated activities under NESHAPs. This means for asbestos, the material that is going to be disturbed must be certified as non asbestos-containing before the activity can take place.

If asbestos containing materials are found, then there are specific rules about removing it. Again, these rules do not apply to a single family home, but they can be a good guide nevertheless.

Asbestos Testing

If there is a suspect material in your home that is being disturbed or there is one that you want to remove, a good first step is to get the material tested, particularly if the house was built around 1978 or earlier.

You can actually sample the material yourself (wet it down first and avoid kicking up dust), put it in a ziploc bag, and send it off to an accredited lab for asbestos testing.

The caveat here is that this lab report would just be for your own information; if you needed a lab report that would have some legal standing then a licensed asbestos professional should perform the sampling. An independent, third-party is required so that there is no question where the sample on the lab report really came from.

This does, however, add a great deal of expense, and as long as the asbestos report is just for your own knowledge then there is nothing wrong with sending it off yourself for asbestos testing.

Most asbestos testing labs wills charge the random guy off the street around $20 for the test; labs that are less adverse to random guys may charge $5 to $10 for the asbestos testing. Pretty much all the asbestos testing labs in the US are accredited by NVLAP, and you can find a current list here.

The thing to remember though is that the lab will only tell you how much asbestos is present (if any), but they will usually not give any advice on what to do about it. In many states you have to be specifically licensed to consult about asbestos issues, and often the lab just has a license to do the lab analysis and not the consulting.

Asbestos testing tips for homeowners and help interpreting asbestos testing lab results provide further assistance.

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Asbestos Removal

If it is determined that a suspect material does in fact contain asbestos, then some tough decisions will have to be made. Having a asbestos-containing material professionally removed is going to be expensive, but if you do it yourself there is a good chance that you will make things whole lot worse than if you just left it alone.

If the material is not damaged and not being disturbed, the best bet may be to just leave it alone even if it does contain asbestos.

If one decides they simply must remove asbestos themselves, then a general rule is to wet everything down as you go; a wet material is less likely to release dust that may contain asbestos fibers. Again, though, there is a chance that the situation will be made worse, and it is not recommended for untrained and unequipped personnel to perform these types of asbestos removal activities. Residential asbestos removal and asbestos abatement provides more tips.

Definitely research this issue further and see what free advice you can get. The local or state health department may have someone you can talk to, and sometimes an asbestos consultant will give some free advice on the phone just to get you to go away.

A main concern involves more than just your own immediate exposure during the removal. The big concern is that entire house could become contaminated with asbestos dust because of a sloppy asbestos removal that will plague the occupants for many years.

If you decided to go with a professional, a company licensed for “asbestos abatement” will perform the asbestos removal. In a normal asbestos removal situation, the building owner will also have hired an asbestos consultant in addition to the asbestos removal company who will watch over the abatement company and look after the interests of the building owner.

This may be too expensive for the average homeowner, hiring both an asbestos consultant and a removal company, so extra care should be taken in choosing an asbestos abatement company.

Asbestos and Apartment Dwellers

If you live in an apartment, then you may have to approach things a little differently at times because NESHAPs rules may be in effect, and you may need to consult with an asbestos professional or even a lawyer in some cases.

For example, if the apartment owner wants to come in and scrape-off the ceiling texture in your apartment, he may be legally bound by NESHAPs to have it tested first and professionally removed (if containing asbestos.)

NESHAPs and similar state rules often are not well known and are often neglected, so you may have to fight for your rights in these occasions. See the section "Other Links" below to learn more about Asbestos NESHAPs.

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Other Links