Asbestos In Home? What Is the Best Way to Find Out If Something has Asbestos in your home?

5 keys to determine if asbestos in home

• Is asbestos in home? Discover what it is, how to determine whether you have been exposed, how to test for it, and the most effective treatments for elimination.

Asbestos is one of those substances that almost everyone knows is harmful, but only a small percentage of people have really experienced the hazards of. Asbestos is known to exist, however identifying asbestos can be challenging. Identifying and managing asbestos in your house is important if you suspect it’s there.

Identifying Asbestos In Your Home

Asbestos has long been appreciated in construction and industry for its characteristics as a robust, low-cost, fire-resistant building material. We now know that long-term asbestos exposure can cause illness, lung difficulties, and other long-term health concerns. Though it was more often utilized in homes built before 1970, asbestos-containing materials are being used in construction today.

It is virtually impossible to detect if anything has asbestos simply by looking at it, although some materials are more likely to contain asbestos than others. Begin your search for asbestos in your house with the following typical culprits:

• Vinyl floor tiles: Some floor tiles and the glue used to fix those tiles in place were made with asbestos
• Siding shingles: In older homes, shingles were sometimes produced with asbestos to make them more fire-resistant
• Textured paints: Until the 1990s, paint makers commonly used asbestos in their materials
• Attic insulation: If your home has an attic and was built between the 1920s and the 1980s, any insulation may be contaminated with asbestos
• Fireplaces or Wood Stoves: Fire-resistant materials in older homes, including those used in a fireplace or a wood stove, are likely to contain asbestos
• Glue that attaches floor tiles to concrete or wood
• Window caulking and glazing
• Plaster
• Linoleum
• Fiber cement siding (usually 1/8 ” thick and 8’x4′ brittle)
• Blown-in attic insulation
• Corrugated heavy duty 8’x4′ panels

NEVER test for asbestos on your own

Unfortunately, because there isn’t a list of all the brands or items that contain asbestos, it’s impossible to tell for certain whether or not these features in your house were produced with it. Damaged drywall, siding, shingles, or floor tiles, frayed piping or insulation, and corrugated cement roofing are red flags that may indicate asbestos contamination, but none of these indications is a guarantee that you have asbestos in your house.

The only way to know for sure if your property contains asbestos is to get it tested. It is critical that you NEVER test for asbestos on your own. Call us: (706) 206-3733.

Precautions Around Asbestos

If you are unsure if a particular area of your house has asbestos, the best course of action is to leave it alone until it can be tested, removed, or controlled. This also implies limiting activities in that part of your home.

Asbestos is not hazardous until the fibers are discharged into the air and breathed, therefore avoid disturbing locations where asbestos may be present. However, you should strive to keep an eye on that area of the house. Any structural damage can cause those fibers to be discharged, and prolonged exposure is more likely to create health problems. If you are going to do any remodeling of an area that may have asbestos in it, you should first have the contaminated materials removed by a professional asbestos removal service.

Should You Get an Asbestos Test?

Asbestos-containing materials, if intact and in excellent condition, are unlikely to pose a harm to you or your family. However, it is impossible to guarantee that intact asbestos remains intact. Asbestos may be released into the air by fires, floods, and earthquakes, as well as remodeling efforts and natural wear and tear. It is extremely critical to test your house for asbestos if you live in:

• There is obvious damage to part of the building, for example, drywall or insulation
• You’ve had some sort of damage, such as water damage, in a part of the home where you suspect there may be asbestos
• You are planning to do remodeling, as the work can disturb asbestos-containing material
• Retiling a floor in an older home, as those tiles and old glue can contain asbestos
• You have an insulated attic in a home built between 1920 and 1989

Asbestos Detection and Management

There is no disputing that having asbestos in your house poses a variety of health risks. If you do decide to have asbestos testing done, you should do it through a professional—taking samples yourself can be far more hazardous than having the substance around.

Asbestos identification is a difficult task. Just as an inexperienced individual should not attempt to wrangle a bear in the wild, householders are better off trusting a professional to handle any asbestos concerns. If you believe your house has asbestos, calm down, take a step back, and contact Asbestos Project Management.

Do’s and Don’ts of Asbestos for Homeowners

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• Do take every precaution to avoid damaging asbestos material.
• Keep activities to a minimum in areas with damaged asbestos-containing material.
• Have asbestos removal and significant repairs performed by personnel who have been trained and qualified to work with asbestos. It is strongly advised that asbestos specialists do sampling and minor repairs as well.
• Don’t use abrasive pads or brushes on power strippers to strip wax from asbestos flooring. Never use a power stripper on a dry floor.
• Don’t dust, sweep, or vacuum debris that may contain asbestos.
• Don’t saw, sand, scrape, or drill holes in asbestos materials.
• Don’t track material that could contain asbestos through the house. If you cannot avoid walking through the area, have it cleaned with a wet mop. If the material is from a damaged area, or if a large area must be cleaned, call an asbestos professional.
• Don’t sand or try to level asbestos flooring or its backing. When asbestos flooring needs replacing, install new floorcovering over it, if possible.

For more information, contact: Environmental Services Of America

Sources:

• www.lungusa.org
• www.asbestos.com
• www.Es-America.com