Asbestos Abatement/Reclamation questions

[omega50]

Replacing all of the flooring in our place. House is 30 years old and has original asbestos tile that has a subfloor over top and then lino in both main floor bathroom and upstairs bathroom. Entrance foyer and entire kitchen.

Abatement company coming in for 8 days to deal with removing all layers.
Flooring replacement will begin after the abatement.

We need to vacate and can not return for any reason for the duration. Fridge, stove, dishwasher and toilets and all furniture all wall décor have to be removed before Abatement company arrives

I have been emptying the entire house into the basement and was just starting to empty the content of all the kitchen cupboards, pantry, pots, pans etc-A huge job, but the abatement company point man is advising that the cupboard contents can be left as is in place, as they will all be totally sealed with poly before they begin.

This makes me really nervous.

Does anyone have first hand knowledge or been through this before?

[bat119]

Everything will be taped and plastic sealed then the coverings will be sprayed with sticky substance to catch any airborne particles. The plastic will be removed after the job is done double bagged and disposed off. As long as the job is properly done it wont be a problem.

[Weedy1]

Have you had your tile independently tested? Seems rather odd to have asbestos tile in a 30 year old home. Lots of labs that will test for $50.
I hope your not getting conned.

[omega50]

Everything will be taped and plastic sealed then the coverings will be sprayed with sticky substance to catch any airborne particles. The plastic will be removed after the job is done double bagged and disposed off. As long as the job is properly done it wont be a problem.


Is all of the wall and ceiling surface area typically sealed off as well? Popcorn ceiling.

[bat119]

Is all of the wall and ceiling surface area typically sealed off as well? Popcorn ceiling.
Yes all the walls ceiling or anything that's staying will be taped off. I did asbestos removal on commercial building and industrial boilers ducts etc. for 10 years.

[omega50]

Have you had your tile independently tested? Seems rather odd to have asbestos tile in a 30 year old home. Lots of labs that will test for $50.
I hope your not getting conned.

We are not bearing the cost-It has been independently confirmed.
Unfortunate , but true,

Apparently that the company also has to be monitored by independent third party during abatement

[bat119]

Have you had your tile independently tested? Seems rather odd to have asbestos tile in a 30 year old home. Lots of labs that will test for $50.
I hope your not getting conned.

Asbestos was banned starting in 60's & 70's however some was considered "low risk" such as in floor tiles and building siding because the particles weren't as large and it was thought they didn't pose a hazard by 1984 they were banned as well. Contractors bought huge stock piles at fire sale prices after the ban and continued to install it well after the ban. Always check to be sure.

[omega50]

Asbestos was banned starting in 60's & 70's however some was considered "low risk" such as in floor tiles and building siding because the particles weren't as large and it was thought they didn't pose a hazard by 1984 they were banned as well. Contractors bought huge stock piles at fire sale prices after the ban and continued to install it well after the ban. Always check to be sure.

Timeline is right and I believe built in 83- 84 ish

[bat119]

I was working on a potash mine installing Asbestos siding in 1984 when the ban came in they told us to do all the cutting outside (skilsaw). After that job was over the company I worked started removing asbestos.

[The Cook]

A friend bought an old house in town and had a company come in and he was impressed with the job done. With something like asbestos it's best to use the pros.

[omega50]

I was working on a potash mine installing Asbestos siding in 1984 when the ban came in they told us to do all the cutting outside (skilsaw). After that job was over the company I worked started removing asbestos.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

AO is perhaps the deepest well of knowledge in the universe.:)

[bat119]

I should mention during the job a negative air filter unit will be installed creating a light vacuum in the house if there any small tears or holes in the hoarding air will be sucked in as not to release fibers.

[omega50]

I should mention during the job a negative air filter unit will be installed creating a light vacuum in the house if there any small tears or holes in the hoarding air will be sucked in as not to release fibers.

How do they deal with fresh air returns and floor registers in those rooms? Do they need to shut down the furnace?

[bat119]

How do they deal with fresh air returns and floor registers in those rooms? Do they need to shut down the furnace?

They will cover them when they are working usually hoarding off the affected areas as small as they can. A manometer while be installed to monitor air pressure if they reading drops they know they have a leak. They don't want particles in the HVAC systems.

[coastalhunter]

We do it in an industrial environment at work. Literally spend weeks building the hoardings and testing them prior to abatement.

[wildbill]

I should mention during the job a negative air filter unit will be installed creating a light vacuum in the house if there any small tears or holes in the hoarding air will be sucked in as not to release fibers.

Aint required, tile removal is text book low risk, neg air are for high risk. I've removed floor tile and the readings were so low that in theory we could done it with out RPE as the levels were way below the 8 hour OEL. I don't think this abatement company would go above and beyond OH&S regs and use a neg air but you never know. Omega, the important question is will there be independent air monitoring done? There better be, you can refer to the levels after the removal (there should be background air monitoring prior to the removal so the consultant can get their base line). The consultant should be able to explain it to you. If the abatement company who is doing the removal are the ones doing the air monitoring, I would be extremely worried as the would be a huge conflict of interest, and may mean they may be taking shortcuts. Over all tile removal is no big deal, unless they start hackin her out. Anytime you start mechanically disturbing asbestos tile it then becomes high risk (ie.drilling, die grinding, zip cutting ect). Hope that helps

[wildbill]

Sorry didn't see post #6, so there will be a consultant, if it's someone like Ben and his crew from Golder you will be in good hands and they will ensure proper procedure is followed

[bat119]

We used Neg air units and hoarding because after the tile was removed the substrate was drum sanded. We did stores and offices as well as industrial equipment.

[omega50]

They are taking it down to substrate. Will there typically be some wall damage as I am going to repaint the entire house, but will wait until after abatement if wall damage is a possibility

[wildbill]

What does it say on their APN (asbestos project notification) it will state whether it's low, med,or, high, if they are bat sanding then ya can even expect a visit from an oh&s officer as it would be high risk.

[CaberTosser]

As you noted the abatement crew does have another independent company that performs the air monitoring. I've had abatement performed for jobs prior to boiler replacements where the pipe insulation had ACM (asbestos containing material) as well as one where the drywall mud had asbestos and we needed some holes in a hallway ceiling. The biggest one though was my Dad's former commercial property where he spent about a half a million getting abatement performed from the insulation packed onto the ceiling of the quonset roof of the warehouse around 20 years ago.

[omega50]

Yikes- very shoddy work.
They finished yesterday and I did the walkthrough today.

Huge mess under the basement stairs all over our storage items-They coming back Saturday to individually remove and clean all items-Idiots

[tchammer]

Welcome to the biggest construction scam of all time. If they continue down this road it will be a disaster. Just about every single house built before around 1980 had asbestos in the linoleum backing. And just about every single house built up to that time has linoleum somewhere underneath. Start doing the math and see how much this will cost the tax and insurance payer, which is all of us, and it is staggering. And all for the benefit of a very small controlled group of companies that remove asbestos "safely". It's a joke.