First of all, all of the usual disclaimers: you are not my doctor, lawyer, or asbestos abatement professional. All answers are presumed to be WAGs and will be appreciated regardless.
I purchased an older home a couple of years ago; it wasn’t my first choice but it’s hard to find anything cheap and new in New England. When we did the inspection, the home inspector noted that the floor tiles in the unfinished basement had asbestos in them. He said it wasn’t a big deal and that most old houses had them. He said it was more trouble than it was worth to tear them out.
Fast forward three years. My wife and I have a cat (again, not my choice!) and he spends the night in the basement. Don’t worry, it’s warmer down there than in the rest of the house. Anyway, I’ve noticed recently that some of the asbestos tiles have been chipped away, presumably by the cat when we’re not with him. Whole corners are missing. I don’t know if he’s eating them or what, but he seems healthy enough. My question is, is this chipping away at the floor tiles going to release asbestos particles into the air? Does my cat now have asbestos particles in his fur? Is he spreading it through the house and contaminating us when we pet him?
As I understand asbestos, it mainly hurt those who worked with it on an industrial scale, not people who merely had it in insulation and so forth in their house. I was also under the impression that most of the asbestos removal done today is really more precautionary than actually necessary. That being said, am I in trouble here? Is my cat going to kill me? Thank you, and don’t let them play Robbie Williams’ “Angels” at my funeral.
I can’t tell you if your cat is going to kill you, but my house has asbestos tiles. We are currently having hardwood floors installed on top of the asbestos tiles. Each of the people we had out to do estimates told us that removing the tiles would involve hazmat procedures and expense; therefore, we are having some kind of sealant put on top of the tiles and then the floors put over them. A few of the tiles were loose and removed whole; the spaces where they were will be filled in with some kind of resin. The broken tiles will be sealed.
I grew up in an old home (in western Massachussetts) that had asbestos insulation (a soft, almost cloth type) around the steam heat pipes and furnace in the basement.
As a kid, I used to play down there a lot, and very occasionally I would whack the furnace with any handy stick, and giggle at the little poofy dust cloud that came off it. I lived there about 11 years (moved out in 1982).
I currently have no cancer.
While asbestos is not healthy, it’s does not appear to be an automatic sentence of slow death.
EDIT: This is not to give you permission to be too careless with asbestos. Better safe than sorry.
I worked for a few years as a motorcycle mechanic, changing out asbestos-based brake pads and shoes and blowing out the brake drums. My father worked for years as an auto mechanic, changing out asbestos-based brake pads and shoes and blowing out the brake drums. A lot of my friends have… (You get the idea.) I am not aware of any mechanic developing asbestosis or lung cancer due to asbestos exposure (Remember though, that this is all anecdotal evidence.)
I find it interesting that you don’t seem to be at all concerned about your cat’s health, only your own. Since this isn’t the pit, I’ll let it go at that.
In Libby, kids back in the 1950s thought it was good fun to put vermiculite on the stove and watch it expand. It’s amazing some people survived childhood, isn’t it?
Our house had loose fill insulation in the attic - vermiculite death.
Because we wanted to be able to actually use the attic and remodel our house, we had to get it removed. Hazmat - the whole thing - $15,000. Of course, it had shifted over the years, and every once in a while we’ll pull a piece of drywall off and get a little poof of powdered death. I’ve learned to ignore the anxiety.
I did tons of research, and yes, your cat is probably releasing asbestos in the air. But, it’s probably not enough to matter. I’d seal the tiles over like an above poster suggested, and then cover over it.
Whatever you do - don’t google pictures of asbestos under a microscope. The thought of those little hooks in your lungs will make it hard to sleep.
We used to play with mercury running around your hands,dropping it on the floor and watching it break up. It was fun. Kids can’t have fun like that anymore.
So long as we’re in WAG territory, I’ll say don’t worry about it. I once had a temp job in a law firm that did a lot of asbestos cases, and their clients were mostly guys who had worked in the shipyards in World War II, presumably spending years in a cloud of asbestos as they applied fireproofing to the ships. These guys nonetheless lived another forty years. Oh, and most of them were smokers, too.
The fact is, asbestos is just another of the carcinogens among which we live our lives. I think I read somewhere that wood dust is as carcinogenic as asbestos, and for most people, I’d guess their exposure to wood dust is orders of magnitude higher than their exposure to asbestos. If it’s all about dose, consider that your dose of asbestos is going to be small. Sure, there’s a chance you’re an outlier and that your small dose will kill you, but the odds are pretty small. Too small to worry about, in my book.
I would consider having the floor floated with a sub floor material and then put new flooring of your choice over it. By floated I mean a product used to level floors for the application of tile or vinyl flooring.
Realistically speaking, what do you suggest they do? It’s not like the effects of asbestos are going to be immediately known, especially in an animal. And considering pets have considerably shorter life spans than humans, I think the OP’s reaction is just right.
