Make Sure Your House Doesn't Have Asbestos

Make Sure Your House Doesn't Have Asbestos

13 January 2020
 Categories: Environmental, Blog


Asbestos is a naturally occurring substance. It was used for a lot of years for things like fireproofing. It is fire-resistant, which means that it could be put in insulation and help to keep the fire from spreading from one place to the next. The problem is that asbestos is dangerous. It can cause respiratory problems as well as cancer. If you are going to be doing reno work on an older house, you want to make sure that you don't have asbestos in your house because any of those little fibers could get into your lungs and could cause problems. So, what do you need to do in order to find out if you have asbestos in your house?

Inspection

The first thing you are going to have to do is to have an inspector come out to your house. They are going to check several things. One of them is that they are going to check to see how old your house is. If your house is built before a certain time period, it's more likely to have asbestos. The inspector will also check to see if there have already been significant renovations to your house, when asbestos remediation might have already happened. Once they have that information, the inspectors will start taking samples so that they can run tests. There are some quick tests that the inspector can do, as well as more in-depth testing to get better results. 

Remediation

If you do have asbestos in your house, you are going to have to have remediation done. If you have a lot of asbestos in your house, you may need to leave while they are working on it because that will keep your risk of exposure down. If it is just one room, the room can be isolated by using a lot of plastic to cover everything, as well as blocking off the doors so that the dust can't travel out to the rest of the house. The people doing the remediation will wear protective gear to make sure that they aren't being exposed to the asbestos. They will remove the asbestos and dispose of it properly. 

If you want to do a lot of renovation work at your house, you want to make sure that you are being as safe as possible. One way to do that is to have your house checked to make sure you don't have any asbestos. Contact a local company like Hutzel & Associates, Inc to learn more about getting an asbestos inspection.