I said it was hard to control a fiber release, I didn’t say the actual work was hard.
It probably does, but it’s also probably pretty brittle after 50 years.
I remember back in grade school we had to walk through a hallway with a low ceiling to get to our gym class. Ya know how as the kids get taller they like to hit things (over their heads) as they walk past them. Well, since this hall way was so low, we could hit things on the ceiling by about 5th grade, at least the taller kids could, the rest of us caught up a year or two later. One of those things was this big 8 inch or so pipe wrapped in white paper and each time we did it, white dust would come out of it.
About 20 years later it dawned on me what all that white dust was. That was in the 80’s and my dad stayed on the Buildings & Grounds committee as well as the School Board until about 10 years ago so I know, for a fact, that the school had asbestos in it. I know they dealt with the 8x8 tiles, what they did with the pipes in the ceiling, I couldn’t tell you.
Okay, what’s the hard part then?
Thanks for the advice. I’m hoping (of course) that no asbestos is found.
If there is asbestos in the ceilings I will get a licenced operator to cut the holes required. Anyway, tomorrow afternoon I will have a better idea.
That you can’t expect to mess with the material on your own and not release fibers.
Who would expect to?
The steps to contain the fibers and not inhale them are simple, so while I would personally avoid doing them, as they are tedious, we seem to agree there is no portion that requires any actual expertise.
Expertise? probably not. When I’m dealing with my families health, I want someone with experience in whatever it is they are doing. You get that experience with a professional abatement company.
Also this,
[QUOTE=Anamen]
I would ask the prospective individual installer – and I’m talking about an experienced, skilled installer, not some random guy you pick up hanging around the labor hall at 9 am – whether they thought the substance in question was asbestos and what effect they thought that would have on the installation.
Based on their answer, I would proceed with further questions on what safety measures they planned to take. If their plan sounded reasonable, involving use of proper safety gear, etc. and I felt they had the appropriate levels of confidence, experience, and caution, we could proceed.
[/QUOTE]
if the material is actually asbestos, and if it is disturbed with installation is illegal just about everywhere in the country.
Experience in taping up plastic and vacuuming then waiting twenty years to see who gets cancer? Good luck with that.
And no, it is not generally illegal to cut through asbestos in your own home. Local laws may prohibit this, but the norm seems to be as Pork Rind experienced: his contractor was prohibited from helping, but he was allowed to do it himself. Likewise, he could probably have hired someone who was not a contractor to perform the work, though this does depend on local laws.
It is illegal to hire someone not certified to perform work on asbestos. It isn’t illegal to perform the work yourself.
I honestly don’t know what you are even arguing about at this point. You want to hire a professional, but not a professional with any experience dealing with asbestos.
Well, there is asbestos (subject to test results).
However, if there is good news it is that it is not friable and no problem as it is. It can be removed by someone with a “B” licence rather than an “A” licence- should I wish to have it removed.
Good news.
it’s good to leave it in place then.
if having it removed might improve the home resale value then save your money. do it after you have moved your stuff out and right before you put the house up for sale.
I’d be surprised if a house that’s cleared of asbestos goes up in value by as much as it costs to clear it. If I were moving, I’d get a quote to have it abated and, if the asbestos comes into play, offer to reduce the price of the house by that much (or a bit more) OR write them a check to cover it. Either way, I’d rather the new owners did the abatement on their own after the house is in their name and they dealt with that headache. Hell, they could even just keep the money, but this way they couldn’t come after me for anything since they were responsible for dealing with it. If they chose a bad company, if they missed some of it, if the workers were slobs and tracked mud all over the carpet, whatever, it wouldn’t be my problem.