Asbestos removal

[Richard J Kinch]

It will cost the do-it-yourselfer, with enough sense to see through the hysteria, a few garbage bags. Add $50 for a respirator if you are paranoid.

[Alpha]

A friend has a house whose heating pipes in the cellar are insulated with asbestos. Would it be expensive to remove the insulation from the pipes, and should it be removed?

Thank you

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[Edwin Pawlowski]

It would be expensive to follow the routine of a professional. Everything has to be segregated, dust removed, etc. Can be quite involved.

In place, asbestos is not a risk at all. It is only the loose fibers that you may inhale that pose a risk over time. You can touch it, roll in it, wear asbestos underwear with no harm. Just don't breath the dust if you cut it or remove it. I'd just put a coat of paint on it and let it insulate the pipes as intended. The paint encapsulates it so it will not flake away.

[NickySantoro]

Excellent advice. I've done as EP suggests but with a product called Gardz from Zinsser. I'm sure others make it also. It has a very thin consistency and is used primarily to stabilize drywall when the top surface of the paper has been damaged. So far I've only used it once in a brush on application on asbestos but it seems to penetrate even better than paint. Two coats of that and the asbestos should be pretty well encapsulated. Dangerous ? There seems to be significant differences of opinion about that, at least to the degree of danger. YMMV. Expensive to remove ? Seems so. A friend of my wife's had a tiny bit removed from around her furnace. The guy came in wearing what she said looked like a space suit. Came out from the basement a half hour later, took off the space suit, and wearing no mask of any kind proceeded to empty the contents of a shop vac into a trash bag making a cloud of what was likely asbestos dust. $800.00.

[Bud--]

Likelyhood of problem in removal in your own house is likely low. Long or high contact is a known health risk that has caused a lot of miserable deaths.

The most important safety procedure is to keep it wet and prevent it from becoming airborne. And get it all in the bag.

Having asbestos could result in a problems when selling the house (if not now, at some point in the future).

Bud--

[Dmitri(Cabling-Design.com]

Asbestos in a commercial environment is a horrible pain in the neck because of liabilities, not so much the technicalities. I would guess that you won't sue yourself for removing asbestos.

Don't have any experience with asbestos in residential environment, but one thing comes to mind thinking about it: if you are (in a process of) selling your house, shouldn't you notify the buyer of asbestos content as known to you? If you do, you'll get much less buyers because of the wide-spread paranoia. If you don't, you'll get them a nice clause to get out of the deal as soon as they learn about the asbestos. So, all things considered, I'd remove it although technically just painting over could have worked.

[HeyBub]

Absolutely not. There has never been a documented cases of any health risk from any commercial product containing asbestos - including people who breathed dust from replacing brake shoes all day. The health problems ALL came from the mining of asbestos.

[... ...]

Who ever posted that the only health risks were to those who mined it< I&#39;d like to know where you got your info? If you have any doubts about health risks talk to some of the old timers that worked in the ship yards or insulators who covered miles of pipe and boilers. It causes a form of cancer in the lungs that is very different from other forms of lung cancer. I work with people who have health problems caused by it and I have lost a few friends from it. So please go pedal your mis information and bullshit somewhere else

[Edwin Pawlowski]

While this is all very true, using proper (and simple) procedures to remove it eliminates the risk for a homeowner. Prolonged exposure and no protection killed many, as you point out, but the mere existence of asbestos is not a cause for hysteria.

[Mrs Bonk]

Did someone really say that? They must be trolling. Death through mesothelioma by exposure to asbestos fibres in dust has been the outcome for some unfortunate housewives who handle clothing before the wash. Something to watch out for if hubby&#39;s into plumbing.

[G Hensley]

In my experience not as dangerous as law firms.

[Dave Combs]

My wife works for a law firm which specializes in asbestos defense. Asbestos can be a dangerous thing. While there are a lot of hucksters making claims because they once changed their own brakes, those that have been affected live a miserable life.

[oren]

If you do remove it, where does one dispose of the asbestos?

Oren

"My doctor says I have a malformed public-duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fiber, and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes."

[Edwin Pawlowski]

It is inert and acceptable at most landfills if double bagged.

[NickySantoro]

I&#39;m sure your wife is the most virtuous person to draw breath since the Virgin Mary. That being said, she seems to be employed by a bunch of shysters who make their living shaking down anyone and everyone for settlement money. When "Dominic" and "Nunzio" do this it&#39;s called extortion and is a criminal activity. When the shysters do it it&#39;s called advocacy.