Asbestos Removal: A Primer

Warning - Hazardous Material! There's a number of reasons to remove asbestos containing materials from your home, but by far the most important reason is you and your family's health. This is nasty stuff, and a proven cause of cancer and other lung problems. Basically, any time asbestos containing materials are disturbed (be it through sawing, drilling, cutting, or scraping), asbestos fibers are released into the air and from there accumulate in your lungs. Because of this, there are a number of safety precautions that must be taken any time asbestos products are worked on, let alone removed.

Personal Protection
Asbestos removal is a time consuming and meticulous process in order to ensure no one in the home is exposed to the material. For starters, anyone working on asbestos must wear a hazmat suit to protect their person from exposure. We're talking the full treatment here—from a respirator right down to wrapping duct tape around wrists, ankles, and anywhere else asbestos might get through.

Sealing the Area and Disposal
As for the worksite, the entire area must be sealed from the rest of the home to prevent contamination. This is followed by treating the area to be worked on with a wetting agent to keep dust to a minimum while the work is performed. Once the asbestos removal is complete, the material must then be disposed of according to local regulations, which means finding a landfill or other disposal site that is approved to handle the stuff. To top it all off, even with all these precautions, you may still need to evacuate your home while the work is being done, just to be safe.

If It Ain't Broke . . .
Considering all this, the old adage holds true: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." One of the best rules of thumb when it comes to asbestos is to leave it alone. If you haven't disturbed it, it's not likely to be a problem for you. Still, for many homeowners just the thought of living in a home awash in cancer causing agents is enough to make their skin crawl. If you want the asbestos out, talk to a professional asbestos removal company to evaluate the presence of asbestos in your home and to perform the necessary removal. With all of the health concerns involved, as well as the safety precautions that must be taken, this is definitely a job better left to the experts.