I was at work renovating an old office and we were scraping some of the carpet and it was hard to remove so I went to google how to remove these faster not realizing how bad it could possibly be. Should I be concerned?
Just looking for peace of mind here. We’ve been doing demo in our bedroom in the upstairs of a 1915 colonial house in New York that we purchased back in May. We are currently living in the house. We took down the tile ceiling in the room and put up vaulted ceilings. The old ceiling were tile ceilings that everyone kept telling us were asbestos. We had it tested and it came back negative but when we did the demo, there was another ceiling underneath. My husband took it down without testing and I just looked the other way because if I don’t, it will consume me with anxiety. I’m guessing this was the original ceilings of the house. It was wood & lath. So it was basically a plaster ceiling with lots of plywood. My husband did this demo in full PPE. He said taking down that ceiling was a total mess and everything basically crumbled into a fine dust. We started the demo back in August and it’s taken quite a while since we’re doing it ourselves and with the help of a family member. But with a little one around and us both working, it’s been a slow drawn out project. I’ve been very careful to keep a plastic tarp up outside the room to keep as much dust out as possible, but I know it’s getting into places regardless. Anyways, we are almost ready to move into the room. We have a new ceiling up, we painted and it looks great! Now we’re just trying to clean up every little crack and corner of the room. We’ve mopped the floors twice and are going to do one more mop. I’ve wiped the window down carefully and replaced the screen. We’re working carefully on the baseboard radiator in there as I keep finding pieces of ceiling in there and now I’m paranoid about using the heat. While I was cleaning in there today I checked in the closet which I guess we forgot to clean. Some old ceiling dust fell through a crack in the corner of the closet ceiling and piled up on a shelf. I collected a small sample and I think I’m going to get it tested. But just wondering what everyone thinks here. This is where we will lay our heads down every night and I just want to be sure we are safe. We plan on doing our son’s room next just not sure when. So I think testing the sample I collected is smart before we start demo in his room. I can’t get over ruminating about this and am trying to prolong us moving up there as much as possible which makes me sad. Any advice to put my mind at ease or am I rightfully being concerned here.
Glue scrapes of easily.
I was removing a 1200x600mm piece of drywall that was the ceiling in a wardrobe, and it had this other board behind it. looks like a cement fibre board - it all kinda came down at once and snapped into bits. House was built in 1960, in New zealand. Have sealed off the room and plan on getting it tested. Any other advice appreciated.
I have been fixing up a brick house built in 1918 and have noticed 3 air vents going from the basement to three second floor bedrooms; the classic white paper wrapping on the air vents. Should i be worried about contamination? We have not touched them, and the are mostly contained within interior walls and only noticed because one of the vents runs next to where a pocket door slides in and out, and one other runs through a "fireplace" that only looks like a fireplace, with a damper in the vent to either direct the heat through the fireplace vent, which i intend to cover anyway. - New Jersey
My wife has been doing some work for a client, she's been asked to cover these holes in the ceiling and is worried they're asbestos. I'm not sure who drilled the holes originally, the building is ~1890s build in London, England. Any way to tell from these pictures?
Hi guys! I have recently asked about some cardboard in the basement, and instead of making lab test i decided to burn piece of it. One piece flamed immediately, other did n't burned well, but finally turned into ash. So - does it prove that it was regular cardboard, not asbestos? Or i am superdumb and contaminated wholearea? video with burning https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZbHGCFbWjrxyXJBNR7DEBKfCuaxzKdYa/view?usp=sharing
Also, what about other visible types of insulation? Grey stuff looks like damaged foam rubber. And also there is something looking like some fabric or even bandage - what is it?
House is built in 1953 in Denmark. Some stuff have been renovated since.
Location: BC, Canada, townhome built in 1978
I recntly purchased my first home, the inside is all original and was in dire need of renovation.
While my real estate agent was aware I was going to take on everything myself that wasn't in violation of strata policy (bonded and licensed contractors for any renovation involving plumbing and electrical) the word asbestos was never mentioned throughout the whole buying process.
Being young and dumb, everything undertaken (as I now know) was done in the worse way possible. It wasn't until I could afford the bathroom remodel, and the contractors requested an asbestos test first, that the understanding started to take place. The drywall joining compound tested positive for 1 - 5% Chrysoltile.
At least 120 self taping screws were put into the walls (about 30 of these into or very close to corners) and about 30 small to medium sized holes were drilled to mount the TV and drywall anchors for various things. Some of these holes were drilled very close to corners. A high power drill was used on a fast setting. No wet methods, no mask, no wiping. All the dust was vacuumed up with a cyclic, course filter non-hepa vacuum that did not get emptied and was used for 6 months after for regular vacuuming. The vacuum eventually got emptied into the household garbage with the debris just sitting on top for about a day until it got taken out.
While I understand as terrible as it was drilling the holes without PPE, I can accept the fact that these would be considered infrequent exposure that would not cause a significant risk increase for asbestos related diseases. What worries me is the cleanup method. As the vacuum was continuously used after for regular cleaning, im worried that all the asbestos fibers extracted from drilling are now spead all over the home from the vacuum. A home that has been lived in for half a year afterwards. Several other things were done that likely disturbed the JC but I feel the drilling was the worst.
In the past month I have spiraled into extreme anxiety over this and it has taken over my life. I have read everything the internet has to offer on the topic yet I cannot draw a conclusion for how severe my particular situation would be. Ive heard "Chrysoltile dust doesnt scare me any more then regular dust", start to feel reassured, then proceed to watch a news clip of a family who had to throw out everything they had and move out for a month because the house was still contaminated after being professionally cleaned, all because someone drilled a single 2 inch hole into the wall.
What is supposed to be a happy time in my life has been turned upside down. Everytime I enter my home I feel like im compounding my risk factor. I cant help but feel like the asbestos related diseases that result from non-occupational exposure are from situations just like these. Im scared to even vacuum my place as I feel like if I dont buy an H-class level vacuum I will just make it worse.
Any professional insight on the severity of my situation would be massively appreciated. I guess my biggest question is would this amount of disturbance fail a TEM test? Also some insight on if TEM testing, more accurate lab analysis (1 - 5% seems like a huge range) or H-class vacuums are the right move here.
Thank you.
Hi everyone,
I just got a house that is over a center old! I was testing everything for lead paint with those q-tip testers that you wet and rub on the surface. While testing the ceiling in my upstairs rooms, the popcorn ceiling just basiclly disintegrated. I didn't test any other areas and the tip was just all white so I couldn't get a read onit. Would you guys be able to confirm if this abestos?
Hi,
So I want to remove my floor to build anew and discovered this layer of foam under the concrete mortar. My apartment was build in France in the 70s. Do you think there's any chance that this foam or mortar could contain asbestos ?
Thanks.
Removing a bath it had tiles around it with a fibre cement backing which I didn't know can be acm. To remove the tiles it was all smashed away into bits.
I'm waiting for test results now I've found out bathrooms can also have acm!! I'm trying to understand what I should do if it positive?
Should I wet wipe the whole area? If so best way as it's a large surface area for a tiny wipe?
Any other things I should do? should I rent a hepa vacuum?
Get someone in?
Hey there, wondering about carpet underlayment. I am cleaning out an older house and found this under one of the carpets. Is this something that looks like it may contain asbestos? Are there any common things to look for as I go through more carpets?
Thanks!