I went to a college that had asbestos. They in fact renovated buildings with asbestos while I was there. And I had class in that building at the time.
They tent off the whole area. There’s really nothing to be worried about.
I think you’d be hard pressed to find a college that doesn’t have asbestos in its buildings, unless it’s a very recently established school with all new buildings. Of all the things to worry about when choosing a college, this wouldn’t even register on my list.
Just keep in mind that the regulations surrounding renovation of old buildings which have asbestos are very thorough and well enforced by building inspectors. Any time a renovation occurs, especially in a non-residential building, there will be material tests and air quality monitors and asbestos remediation by a licensed asbestos contractor who does nothing but deal with asbestos all day. They know what they’re doing. And the above posters are right: asbestos is only dangerous when it gets in your lungs. Asbestos mixed into concrete or sheet goods is generally harmless as long as no one is tearing it up at the moment.
Snnipe 70E has a good rundown. The key word is friable. Is the asbestos crumbling in a way that lets individual fibers float in the air? No? Then no problem. If it is friable, then in addition to all of the protections listed, it will be soaked before it’s removed, to reduce particle release.
Would you go to a college that had asbestos in its buildings?
Went to three different colleges. (I tend to drag things out.) I’m sure all three had asbestos somewhere. I know that one did because I had a student job in the Environmental Health & Safety Department and got to take samples for testing. The college was buying an apartment building to add to student housing and they had to fully characterize the hazardous materials before the sale could go through.
IIRC, there was some in some of the linoleum and some in the oatmeal texturing on the ceilings. They did not do a removal, although there was talk of spray painting the ceilings to lock it in more, because students can be asses.* While testing we saw ceilings that had been hit with golf balls, ceilings that had been hit by knives, and one ceiling that had been turned into a beer bottle cap trophy area. Apparently all you have to do is press the cap into the oatmeal and it will stay.
- low percentage - most of the rooms were OK
I would, and I did, and I currently live in a house that has asbestos in the ceilings. It isn’t a problem as long as it isn’t disturbed.
Seriously, I bet you’d be hard pressed to find any university anywhere that doesn’t have asbestos in at least one building.
I think that this is a very healthy attitude. But, to the extent you trust us anyway, you can put asbestos way down on the list of things to worry about.
When I grew up everything around me was covered in lead based paint and gasoline had lead in it. Damn liberals stopped that sort of thing.
Hell, if you live in an old house that has 9 x 9 or 12 x 12 inch vinyl floor tiles or linoleum made before 1983 you may be walking on asbestos right now.
I’ve worked in a building that has asbestos in it for about a decade now. Anytime we do anything in the ceiling, such as wiring or plumbing, we have to have dudes come in over the weekend and do a sweep. I think our ceilings are the cleanest ceilings in the city.
Just about any government or residential building built before 1975 will have asbestos in it. This is pretty much every building on Capitol hill. Yup, all those government buildings.
The main concern is the asbestos used to insulate ventilation and as a flexible conduit in such systems. All buildings that I know of recirculate the air to a certain degree and this is where the heightened exposure came form. A house is rather drafty in comparison so the exposure would be much less.
The real cancer cases came from the mines and on ships, where asbestos was used a whole lot and as the air is recirculated and you are confined in the area for extended periods of time, people got cancer. But, not everyone.
Somewhere, there is a public report on your school building. Has to be if its a state subsidized school. Only a for-profit school would be able to contain any findings. The report will detail what they found. Which means that the ACM could be as simple as floor and ceiling tiles or could be some ventilation duct work.
I did, for two degrees.
I would wonder if there’s a university in America that doesn’t have asbestos in its buildings (maybe a school which has no building built before the 80s). As already noted, as long as it’s undisturbed, it is not hazardous.
You’re not a spaz. You didn’t know, so you asked! It’s all good.
One thing that you SHOULD look into is whether the dorms are fully sprinklered.
In the wake of the tragic fire at Seton Hall in 2000, NJ was the first state to mandate that all dorms be fully sprinklered. Other states have been following suit, but I’m not sure what the status is for CA and/or that school.
I thought 12x12s were the ones that wouldn’t have asbestos. The older ones are smaller. (Regardless, asbestos can’t hurt you if it’s trapped in a floor tile.)
A lot of pre-80s household “popcorn” ceiling texture has asbestos. Not an issue if not disturbed.
When I was in school, we had nasty frayed/scorched asbestos pads for use with a Bunsen burner in chemistry. Like mercury, we played with it without ill effect.
Civil engineering student here. Just about any building older than 30-40 years will have asbestos. It is simply a mineral that was easily cut to make floor tiles, ceiling tiles, insulation, etc. In most cases, it trapped deep in the walls, or under layers of modern flooring, and is absolutely not dangerous when properly contained.
It is dangerous to construction workers, because they are exposed to loose particles when they open the walls or remove the tiles. A single exposure is not particularly dangerous, but if these workers are repeatedly exposed daily over years, they can easily develop lung cancer. Airborne asbestos fibers are one of the few proven carcinogens (an elite group of toxins that cause cancer, in the company of such wonders as tobacco tar).
When properly contained, however, it cannot release the fibers and the building is safe for occupancy. Removal is expensive and usually requires gutting the building, which only makes sense if the building were otherwise scheduled for major renovations. Even under removal conditions, it is the chronic exposure that is most hazardous, thus removal crews wear hazards suits most to protect themselves from daily exposure over time.
As electronbee points out, this is where asbestos was dangerous. Fibers in the insulation getting loose into the air ducts, and exposing occupants in the long term is dangerous, and there is no excuse to not have such systems remediated.
Most remnant asbestos in today’s buildings is in the kind that is properly contained as I described above.
I’m not sure of that status, either, but I know we’ve had multiple rounds of earthquake retrofits.
This happened at my university. We were work-study facility and were replacing ceiling tiles when a co-worker noticed asbestos insulation in a building built in the 1950s. Since the building had an addition built in the late 1980s, apparently it was thought the whole building was asbestos-free. They decided to remove it.
Also, if I may, many of the whiteboards in older schools are placed over chalkboards that have asbestos.
Just as a side comment; my husband is 88 years old, he is the only one in a family of 10 children who never had cancer, He Blew in asbestos, in many buildings in the Twin City area. he had to just blow the asbestos for 2 years. He had no protective clothing or any mask. The rest of his family except one brother died of different cancers. He is the only living relative on both sides of his parents , and still is doing most of the things he did years ago. So when he hears that asbestos causes cancer he says" I guess it doesn’t kill every one.
I lived in a house with a large family that had asbestos insulation, and siding, and only one of my siblings died of cancer and she smoked a lot.
Running into aspestos in Australia is pretty common, since it was considered a wonder material back in the day and we had ample supply. There has since been alot of superstition about it though and most people are so afraid of it they will spend lots and lots of money getting rid of even small amounts like it is some kind of deadly super poison. Yes, it is bad stuff and what happened to the people who worked it was appalling. For civil purposes though, a bit of common sense will help way more than overpriced “removalists” who will only have it taken to a council tip and buried via bulldozer.
Just don’t cut or crush it. If you have to handle it, wear gloves and a mask and wrap it up in a durable non degrading material. Bury that shit. Particularly if it was the older (1960’s) blue stuff, bury it deep out of harms way.
Obviously if it was insulating the ducts of a large building like a university that should definately be remedied, but I cannot think of an otherwise reason to fear it so much. If during renovations it must be disturbed, I should think a forward thinking country like America would necessitate it be done properly and keep students away.
One hopes.