Asbestos professionals only or...

[gingersiam]

Hello Everyone,

I am wondering if anyone here has worked with, purchased a home with, or is just able to give me some info about working with asbestos.

After spending a year and a half searching for a second property my boyfriend and I put a contract on a small house in Shady Acre

[musicman]

I read some articles about asbestos this weekend and was surprised to find out how toxic it was and that in it should really be left alone if it is in good condition and if it is friable that a professional needs to remove the asbestos completely. Most of the research indicated that most homes built from the 20

Edited June 4, 2007 by musicman

[mumbles]

I watched asbestos shingle siding being taken off a house before they tore it down. The workes had their tyvek suits and masks on, they sprayed it down with water first. Hung up little devices that measure how much asbestos is in the air. The guy hanging up the device was wearing no protection as he hung them up and wandered around the site. Only the people actually doing the tear off had breathing masks. Seemed kind of silly.

[sevfiv]

"working with asbestos" isn't fun. a professional should at least come out to your property and make an assessment if you don't know exactly where it is or if particulate matter can get out. otherwise, asbestos can be left alone - just don't disturb it.

otherwise, abatement is necessary and would require completely enclosing the areas with heavy plastic sheets, shutting down air ventilation, creating a double entry to the area, and safely bagging of material and properly disposing of it.

then air quality tests are performed to make sure nothing is left floating around.

as for outside - not so sure - what mumbles mentioned above does seem silly

[gingersiam]

Thanks for the replies. I wasn

[AJXterra]

It's not cheap, but other than the precautions needed to be taken it functions like normal siding. If it wasn't asbestos siding you wouldn't be taking it all off, so there's really no reason for you to have to do that now. If all you want to do is remove a small section in the back of the house it shouldn't be too expensive...and if I were you I might wait for a rainy day and do it then yourself. Most panels don't have to be cut, just pryed off and you can get stuff that matches perfectly to fill in the gaps once you've put the doors on.

You do have to be careful with it, but it's only dangerous if it's broken or cut and particles get into the air. Also, you talked about hanging pictures, etc., the inside walls have NOTHING to do with the asbestos siding. The siding goes on the outside after the house is put up. If you drive around and see some of the houses with the plastic sheeting on the sides, that's what yours would have been like before the siding was applied. The siding won't affect any living inside the house.

[gingersiam]

It's not cheap, but other than the precautions needed to be taken it functions like normal siding. If it wasn't asbestos siding you wouldn't be taking it all off, so there's really no reason for you to have to do that now. If all you want to do is remove a small section in the back of the house it shouldn't be too expensive...and if I were you I might wait for a rainy day and do it then yourself. Most panels don't have to be cut, just pryed off and you can get stuff that matches perfectly to fill in the gaps once you've put the doors on.

You do have to be careful with it, but it's only dangerous if it's broken or cut and particles get into the air. Also, you talked about hanging pictures, etc., the inside walls have NOTHING to do with the asbestos siding. The siding goes on the outside after the house is put up. If you drive around and see some of the houses with the plastic sheeting on the sides, that's what yours would have been like before the siding was applied. The siding won't affect any living inside the house.

AJXterra,

thank you for your reply. Why on a rainy day? Does the weather affect the asbestos in some way?

[AJXterra]

The asbestos particles can't get airborn when wet. Think pollen, you don't have the pollen floating around in the air while it's raining. That's why they sprayed the house mumbles' was talking about down with water. I've never seen a 'professional' crew do it in person, but from what I understand they continuously spray it to keep it from drying out and getting airborn. So either get someone to hose you and the work area off constantly (fun for them, not so much for you) or bust out the tyvek suit and mask on a rainy day and knock it out in a couple hours.

Remember though, if you break or cut any asbestos board they need to be replaced. the outside is sealed, but once that seal is broken the inside will dry out an will be like a dust that can be made airborn by someone rubbing against it. You should be wearing an asbestos approved mask to do any work on an old house, and I'd be sure to be doing it while you work on every aspect of this project just to be safe...even if someone else does the removal for you.

[ricco67]

Well, on a rainy day, the particles would quickly fall to the ground (The same reason why you see a guy with a water hose doing demolition, to keep the dust down.)

Look. It's expensive. It's nasty and potentially deadly, just hire some professionals to take care of it, unless you don't have any particular fear of Cancer.

The reason why asbestos was utilized was because it was deemed safe, since then it has been proven otherwise.

Don't break it, don't scratch it, don't try to do it yourself. We don't say these things likely. Anyone that suggest that you do it yourself is a fool. hire HIM to do it and make sure not a fleck of dust is there afterwards.

[jm1fd]

My understanding is as follows:

In Texas you don't have to hire professionals to remove asbestos from a 1-4 family residential structure

I'm told that siding doesn't typically present a large risk because it isn't easily friable (fried?), try not to break it and keep it wet if you're really worried....

Edited June 4, 2007 by jm1fd

[ricco67]

My understanding is as follows:

In Texas you don't have to hire professionals to remove asbestos from a 1-4 family residential structure

I'm told that siding doesn't typically present a large risk because it isn't easily friable (fried?), try not to break it and keep it wet if you're really worried....

Translation: You can do it yourself regardless of whether or not you know what you're doing. If you get cancer in 20 years, sucks to be you. To bad. So sad.

[gingersiam]

Thank you for all of your replies.

[mumbles]

Thats the big question, does it only take sucking one particle into your lung to get cancer or is it the constant exposure from working with it day after day. If you hose down the house and the particles fall to the ground, don't they eventually dry out and float off somewhere? What is the proper procedure for disposal after you remove it? The stuff lasts forever, if it aint broke, don't fix it.

I was told the reason hardiplank installation is expensive is because of all the protective gear needed by the workers. The ones that came to my house had NO protective gear.

[ricco67]

Thats the big question, does it only take sucking one particle into your lung to get cancer or is it the constant exposure from working with it day after day. If you hose down the house and the particles fall to the ground, don't they eventually dry out and float off somewhere? What is the proper procedure for disposal after you remove it? The stuff lasts forever, if it aint broke, don't fix it.

I was told the reason hardiplank installation is expensive is because of all the protective gear needed by the workers. The ones that came to my house had NO protective gear.

What part of, "HIRE A PROFESSIONAL" Don't you understand?

How about this: If you do it yourself and you screw it up, not only are you going to manage to assure yourself a slow nasty death in 20 years, but if you're a class A screw up, you will be exposing THE ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD! If they backtrack it to you, guess who might be liable for it?

C'mon I know you have the answer...."The Person that improperly and neglectfully ATTEMPTED asbestos abatement.

Let me say that again a different way: YOU WILL BE SUED!

Sorry I'm being a bit harsh, but apparently it's not sinking in.

here is some reading material for you on this link..

Just so I can make sure you read the article HERE! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos_abatement

You're right, if you wet it down, it'll keep it from the air, but you DO need to get rid of it while it's still wet or else it WILL fly around.

Well, goes to show that some employers don't really care about their workers enough to give them the proper fitting.

[Heights2Bastrop]

The house I lived in

[GREASER]

according to a realtor friend, there is a law (ordinance?) created when a certain neighborhood started removing this stuff and throwing it in the trash. Yes its against the law, but no one has ever been charged (acording to friend) . My house had it on as well, and its removed.