r/asbestoshelp

So, I lack expertise in dealing with asbestos and tradies clearly. We had a builder over who accidentally knocked down a wall behind our gyprock wall that was pure asbestos. He did not know it was asbestos.

Basically, while he was working, windows and doors were left open. After he finished demolition, we went in and vaccuumed and noticed dust trailing outside of the room by metres and up on the other side of the doors too.

Anyway, we confirmed suspicions by testint a sample and it was asbestos.

Upon hiring a removalist, who advised verbally that he would make the room safe and clean all surfaces - walls (two rendered painted brick, two gyprock, concrete floor, windows, AC and doors) by vacuuming, wet wiping then spraying a PVA solution.

After the job, the "site" was deemed safe by a licensed asbestos assessor.

Two days later I go in and dry wipe, in case any airborne dust had settler on walls etc. The wipes have sooo much dust on them, like years of dust build up, from the brick walls, gyprock walls and even framing. Mopped the concrete and water was dark brown.

In my mind, should wet wiping and vaccuumint not have gotten rid of dust substantially? And the glue solution supposed to suppress dust down?

If there is heaps of dust - ie turning an electromagnetic wipe completely brown on both sides after wiping 3m squared, does this not mean the vacuuming, wiping and glue solution did not work?

I also found out later that the removalist booked the LAA and only isntructed him to assess the timber framing off of which the asbestos wall was accidentally destroyed and removed off of, nothing else in the room is cleared as safe.

The removalist is saying:

1. How do I even know there is asbestos dust in the dust I wiped? In my mind, the dust flew so far outside, that surely there is asbestos dust on walls in the room combined with normal dust. If there is so much dust still present, the cleaning was inefficient?

2. that the asbestos was on the timber framing so they only cleared that. Verbally they promised to clean and clear for safe habitation, the whole room..

3. the third thing is he had promised to seal up the room safely before coming in to demolish tiny remnants of asbestos and remove and clean the debris. Upon arrival he refused to seal everything, saying it was not possible.

4. he advised he would be part of the team doing the cleaning. On site, he stood outside to "secure the perimeter" rather than doing any removalist works.

Hoping someone can help with the above and get him to come back and complete the work :(

I had left him a good 5 star review before I went back in the room to dry wipe and before we realised from the report that only the timber framing was clear.

I want them to come back and brush vaccum everything and wet wipe after then assess everything as safe.

I am in Australia.

House I just moved in couple days ago. Now I started looking closer at the renovations I will be carrying out, and zoomed in a bit on the ceilings.

There is a few places where I have the popcorn ceiling, but some have visible seams so it makes me think that it's just wallpaper. Kitchen's ceiling is most likely Artex as there are no seams.

I'll get them all properly tested for asbestos, but I'm a bit concerned now about the ceiling on the photos. It has previously been patched up with plaster - at very least 3-4 months ago (it was there when I first viewed the house). It's not flaking / breaking off, fortunately.

Do you reckon it is Artex? How dangerous it is to be living with it for the time being if it is Artex? Cheers.

Recently moved into a Victorian house in the UK. Had an internet company drill a full fibre cable through the wall in the extension of the house to allow for broadband. When cleaning up after them I found a few strands of this on the floor.

I believe the wall may be part of an extension which was built 2004, however I’m not entirely sure. I’ve been told it’s likely fibre insulation. Any advice would be great!

I cut the drywall in the basement ceiling of my 1968 built house with a sawzall to access/fix a rattling duct. Little did I know I was also cutting deep into these ceiling tiles. Guessing from the looks that these were installed between 1968 and the mid-seventies. In the pic of the vent cut-out, I'm thinking that may be the mastic used to glue those tiles. Wore an N95 mask but know that's not enough and also, my entire basement is covered in a fine dust layer. If it can get any worse, my basement is open to the first floor. I haven't run the HVAC for 24 hours but I'll need to soon. I just sealed the only basement return vent with plastic. Am I cooked? Will be sending out a sample for testing tomorrow.

I am hoping to get some advice about a very unfortunate situation going on in my apartment right now (located in western Ohio, USA). I came home from work on Friday, July 3 to my plaster ceiling collapsed directly onto my bed and my bed/room was covered with piles of what very much appears to be vermiculite insulation. I didn't think to take pictures of the insulation until it was mostly swept up, but I included one of what is left on the edge of my bed frame.

Thankfully myself nor my cats were not sleeping on the bed at the time, but I'm very concerned about our risk of asbestos exposure now. I have no idea when it fell, so there's a possibility that the dust was there for hours with my AC unit blowing directly from my bedroom window down the hallway to the rest of the house. My landlord sent maintenance to come cover the hole with plastic but because it was a holiday weekend, nothing else was done. Maintenance swept up the piles of insulation that were in my bed along with the pieces of plaster, and it's all been sitting in trash bags in my room until they come to fix the ceiling on Monday. There is still a decent amount in my rug and around my bed. I expressed concerns to my landlord about the potential for asbestos given the age of the house (built in the 1920s), but her only response was that she would mention it to maintenance.

I don't honestly know what to do from here. I started wiping things off and moving them out of my room, washing bedding, and trying to prepare the room for new drywall installation on Monday. After reading more, I am worried I could be making the issue worse by spreading it around the house. For whatever it's worth, I have a HEPA air filter in that room that has been running the whole time and I've kept the door closed other than to move things out of the room.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

This duct blows right at our faces while we sleep 😬 the basement has ducts that are clearly wrapped in asbestos, but not sure about cases like this on the inside. Is there anything else it could be?

(USA MI, 1894 house, upstairs bedroom floor vent)

First summer in a new home and we’re learning that our upstairs gets unbearably hot partially thanks to some missing or failing insulation. I’ve been hesitant to do anything with it since the home is from the 40s and I’m pretty sure we have some duct wrapping made of it. I want to get it tested but on the surface is any of this ACM?

I moved to a new place (USA) and the previous owner left some leftover siding materials and lumbers tucked in a basement corner. I finally decided to move them somewhere else and noticed the what looks like the bag to dispose asbestos, it has the danger warning on it. I have no idea why it is wrapped together with a lumber, or if there is actually asbestos in it. I'm just trying to make sense of it, and understand where this was potentially used so I can check the house. House has asbestos tiles in the basement but I couldn't notice it anywhere else

To start off - I have OCD. Specifically contamination and responsibility for harm OCD. So I am spiralling.

Our house is 1960s, UK. Moved in January 26.

We have two children - 4 year old, 4 month old.

We had a full asbestos management survey done. Chrysotile in the artex, so had ceilings in poor condition professionally removed or sealed and replastered.

However, the kitchen has had an extension in the last c.25 years and the ceiling is smooth with down lights. We wanted to just add 4 more.

I told our electrician we had asbestos artex throughout the house. He went ahead and circle sawed through the ceiling whilst the kids were in the house. Didn’t raise any concerns.

The next day I glanced up at the patch in and noticed a textured surface, my heart sank. There hadn’t been much dust so there was not real clean up.

I tried SO hard to protect my children and feel I totally failed, and have exposed them. I’m terrified what that means for their future.

I am struggling to know if I am overthinking the risk or if this is a sad reality.

#asbestos #asbestoshelp

Hi, this is an outlet in a bedroom of a house built in the 1950s.

Does it look like there is fiberglass or abestos in the drywall and should I be concerned when working on this part of the wall? Thanks!

This is the ceiling of an underground garage in a condominium building in France, built in the 1970s. A few months ago, there was a water leak from a pipe running through the ceiling, which got the insulation foam wet and caused it to fall to the ground. After it dried, I tried to sweep it up with a broom today. The foam raised a lot of dust in the garage, and I carelessly didn’t wear a mask while removing it. The exposure lasted about 20 minutes. First question: does it contain asbestos? Second question: if so, am I at risk?

Took down an industrial light fixture in an old factory and this was the gasket between the light base and the glass shade. The light base is most likely pre-1950's above a small engine that likely produced heat.

Might be too hard to tell from the picture, and not worried about exposure - just genuinely curious. I don't plan on lab testing as I left the gasket and only snapped this picture.

Thanks in advance!

I have moved on to my next project - installing ceiling fans because there is only one in the entire house. Do I need to be concerned about this ceiling? I have to change the box so anticipate having to increase the hole size because it looks tiny. 50s east coast house.

The house that I’ve just bought has carpet in the downstairs toilet, just pulled it up to see what’s underneath but found this firm black layer?

It’s an old house, originally built in 1870s, previous owners moved purchased in 1960 and it was falling apart. Some rooms have floorboards, but the room next to it has a concrete flooring.

Any help / advice would be appreciate!!