I have a small room in my home where the ceiling is insulated with asbestos, or at least I think it's asbestos.
Now every source i try to search about it pretty much says it's worse than nuclear fallout and that I need to spend hundreds to identify it and then spend thousands to have it professionally removed.
From what I gather about asbestos, however, is that it is indeed bad, but the only people who had adverse health effects to it are those who work with it all day every day for years. If I just wore a mask and goggles would I be ok to dispose of it myself? I'm redoing the ceiling and this is why it needs to be removed.
I recommend not re-doing the ceiling. Just work around the asbestos.
Ask 10 people and you'll get 10 different opinions when it comes to asbestos. Here's my take, for what it's worth. Getting it tested is cheap and worthwhile if you do it yourself. Take about a tablespoon worth of the material, put it in a ziploc bag, and take it or mail it to your nearest environmental lab. Should be less than $100 for the test. If it comes back positive, then you need to make some decisions. In theory you can remove it yourself, but personally I wouldn't recommend it. Is your home a detached single family house, or is it an apartment or townhouse? Legally you can generally only DIY removal in a detached dwelling. If you're committed to DIYing it, then look up the safety procedures and do your homework. A mask and goggles alone are way below the recommended level of protection. You also have to think about containment, ventilation, decontamination, transport, and disposal. If it were me I would just pay somebody, personally.
easier to try lighting it on fire.
a small sample of it. in a controlled and contained environment.
Easiest to burn the house down. Collect insurance, rebuild.
>Getting it tested is cheap and worthwhile if you do it yourself. Take about a tablespoon worth of the material, put it in a ziploc bag, and take it or mail it to your nearest environmental lab. Should be less than $100 for the test.
The labs themselves sell the kits on Amazon, and they're like $30-$40.
But yes, the process is as you describe - all the "kit" really is is a plastic bag and a prepaid UPS label.
You follow the instructions, take a sample, send it in, and a week later they send you an email with the results.
Is it really that easy to get asbestos tested? With how everyone flips the frick out over it, I would figure it would be a federal crime to transport some via USPS. Like anthrax or some shit.
Here's a pdf that gives you a run-down on removal safety. Juicy stuff starts at page 33.
https://www.ihsa.ca/PDFs/Products/Id/DS037.pdf
This.
> then look up the safety procedures and do your homework.
And that.
When I had a situation with asbestos, I learned that 60 square feet or less could be done DIY. Use 6mil sheeting to keep it from migrating, and let it go to a landfill.
>it is indeed bad, but the only people who had adverse health effects to it are those who work with it all day every day for years. If I just wore a mask and goggles would I be ok to dispose of it myself?
Yes. Make sure you're using an actual respirator with actual filters though, not some chink coof mask
>however, is that it is indeed bad, but the only people who had adverse health effects to it are those who work with it all day every day for years
This is survivor bias for people that survived long enough to get Asbestosis or Mesothelioma.
You need to have some critical thinking skills here
>objectively proven that asbestos fibers and dust get deep into lungs, get trapped forever, never dissolve (like most foreign objects eventually do), creates long term irritation which eventually turns to scar tissue
Every single piece that gets stuck is staying with you, and its objectively reducing your lungs ability to intake oxygen and introducing pockets of neverending irritation where cancer can occur.
Your cardiac and pulmonary systems are highly interlocked.
The #1 killer in the USA is blanket *heart disease*
If you stress your lungs, you stress your heart
Smoking is vilified because it puts huge strain on the heart directly through the lungs.
A lot die from lung cancer, but tons die from heart problems mostly brought on by trauma to the lungs.
Its all exacerbated by bad diet and poor exercise, but you dont want to frick your lungs or your heart in any way.
You stop smoking and your lungs will eventually clean and clear itself of a lot of the tar in your lungs. You will regain your sense of breath back as it clears out that shit.
Again, you cant clear asbestos and eventually you just scar up over it.
You shouldnt be looking at this from the "well it wont cause cancer until im 50!". You should be worried about doing permanent damage to your lungs, even if its a small amount.
Its fricking unnecessary and stupid and will eventually be a contributing factor in your death, as will all the other choices you make that can damage your heart.
proven that asbestos fibers and dust get deep into lungs, get trapped forever, never dissolve (like most foreign objects eventually do), creates long term irritation which eventually turns to scar tissue
>Every single piece that gets stuck is staying with you, and its objectively reducing your lungs ability to intake oxygen and introducing pockets of neverending irritation where cancer can occur.
idk where people get this lie from, because if you google it, nobody tells you this
Asbestos fibers are dangerous because they're so small that they actually get tangled up in your DNA. Thats why it causes cancer and fiberglass dust does not. Anyone thats worked with glass knows those fibers are also small and inhalable, and obviously glass does not dissolve so the body has to process it the same way it would a mineral fiber. They key and only difference is that glass fibers have to be much thicker, otherwise they just shatter and turn to dust. Asbestos can stay strong enough to be fiberous in molecule wide strands, which can easily cause mutations, though usually its just cell death.
Scar tissue isn't good, but again, theres a reason why people that inhale concrete dust only get silicosis and not mesothelioma
Is there a sort of simple burn test to see if it's asbestos? This stuff feels like sawdust more than anything.
Well if it burns then it's definitely not 100% asbestos, if it burns without leaving anything behind then it's probably 0% asbestos.
No. In theory you could test it this way but you would need to contain the asbestos fibers that are too small to see with the naked eye. If you just burn a sample in open air, the fibers will be carried away by the smoke. For what it's worth, my apartment building has a similar wood-pulp looking insulation that was tested by professionals and found to be free of asbestos. But yours might be different. Often products like insulation and drywall joint compound were produced locally or even mixed on site to custom formulas. So even if two samples look exactly alike they might have completely different asbestos levels.
Just box it in with wood anon, if you dont disturb it youll be okay but the problems start when you cut into it. Real talk my grandad worked in an asbestos factory and his lungs were destroyed by the time he was 70
problem is it's in the ceiling joices above some old ceiling tile that i need to remove. Its like a blanket of sawdust in there so when i remove the tiles, it will fall out and break up into the air.
It's a dark brown and again, looks like sawdust. I only think it might be asbestos because i read somewhere that it also comes in a brown variety. I also need to redo the electrical in the ceiling for light fixtures and some speakers.
>problem is i just gotta remove those ceiling tiles
Sorry. But no you do not. Not unless you got cash to pay a professional to do the job and dispose of the hazardous waste.
No.
> 60 square feet or less could be done DIY. Use 6mil sheeting to keep it from migrating, and let it go to a landfill.
>DIY asbestos removal
Otherwise known as cancer speed running
There is a brown asbestos called Amosite which was used in electrical and plumbing insulation. Get it checked but if Im right off the photos its pretty much the most toxic asbestos they ever made. For checking contact your local council to see if any building surveys have been done. If not check with neighbour's of similar construction.
Get a Chinese full face respirator and genuine 3m p100 filters. Wear a full body plastic suit, just to avoid contamination, hair cover/hood as well. Seal all air entrances when you are going to remove the stuff (mind the breathing air you will need). Stuff it into bags, vacuum all the crevices to remove traces, remove sheeting, etc.
Here is the redpill. Replace it with foam insulation. A r12 EPS wall uses half the energy as a r20 fiberglass wall. That means foams true r value is closer to 20 per inch, not 5.
>Verification not required
how do you decontaminate the work area?
>the only people who had adverse health effects to it are those who work with it all day every day for years
My uncle worked a handful of demolition jobs (we're talking a few days total) in his twenties. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma a few days after his 60th birthday & was dead 6 weeks later.
Not every case will be this extreme, but my point is that you seriously do not want to take any chances with this shit. Saving a few thousand dollars now is not worth losing decades of your life.
OP is baiting us into an asbestos argument. Why else would he use a stock photo off an image search?
Honestly I couldnt get a decent picture of it being in a dark attic, i didnt want to frick with it too much and bring some to light. I had a flashlight but the photos werent good.
So i googled asbestos and got an image
That's cellulose. Or I'm fricked
If you're gonna frick around with it you'll need lab goggles and a p100 mask. Both are incredibly cheap and the p100 mask is great for spray painting
simple test mr. simpleton.
take some and try to burn it.
if burn is no asbestos.
also no one insulated houses with asbestos.
>Fricking moronic, the post
https://www.asbestos.com/products/insulation/
https://www.zonoliteatticinsulation.com/
Many things with asbestos in them will still burn. They just don't burn as readily. Only pure asbestos won't burn at all and that is clearly not the pure stuff.
Honestly? Looks like cellulose insulation. I am not an expert. Either treat it like it is asbestos and remove it like a pro or get it tested and know for sure.
That said, they put asbestos in EVERYTHING. Linoleum flooring, construction adhesive, drywall, plaster, popcorn ceilings, roofing, HVAC insulation, even fricking concrete. The concrete one was the craziest. Picture related. It ended up in concrete roofing tiles, exterior wall tiles, construction blocks of various types, even pipes.
>I am not an expert
everything you posted is negated.
>>I am not an expert
>everything you posted is negated
>don't even talk to me unless you have 20 years experience in the field
you realize where you are right?
You'd be surprised. I've seen pool's built with the stuff.
My friend was forced by his family to haul sheets of the stuff without knowing what it was, how messed up would you get from just something like that?
I'd rather smoke crack.
a test isnt that expensive, lad
also - most asbestos you might see around a house are tile, mastic, fiber insulation. tile and mastics can be considered 'non-friable' is you treat them gently and dont break them and grind them to breathable bits. fiberous shit like pic related - dont touch it unless youre gonna suit up like that other anon says.
not asbestos, thats rockwool
Licensed asbestos removal guy here well had the mandatory OSHA courses to touch it.
To keep it basic if theirs alot you need to ventilate the space where an air tight tyvec with a p100 mask and make sure to have something smelling terrible while wearing the p100 stick it near the mask to make sure its air tight.
Now you want a negative air pressure it really is doable. Id wrap the floor with a poly sheet so its easier to pick up the waste.
A white tyvec with boots duckted tape same with gloves.
Some people will say if its one job dont worry. But ive known people get asbestos lungs from short term remote second hand exposure. You wont die from it but why sacrifice your lung capacity when you dont need to?
Ventilation, Proper PPE. Garbage bags with the knots taped off to keep it air tight.
Or, wear appropriate respirator, seal room by closing door, shower outside with hose and dawn and and throw away shorts and t-shirt and move on
Just wear a proper mask, not a cheap one and just bag it up then wash your clothes, then just burry it. Since that what the pro's do anyway.
Wear disposable coveralls or disposable old clothes. Washing and drying don't get all fibers and dryer blows them about.