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Me and my husband have been house hunting and we have found a home we really like, the inspections are next week.
One of the things we want to do before we move in is knock down a wall in kitchen to open it to dining room. We already know it is a nonstructural wall.
The home was built in 1958 so we are worried the area might contain asbestos. We have no problem paying for the area to be tested but were wondering:
If they find asbestos will we have to remove it from the entire kitchen/house, or can we just remove it from the one wall we are planning to take down.
...we are worried the area might contain asbestos...or can we just remove it from the one wall we are planning to take down.
There's a big difference between "wall" and "area"- And if there was any asbestos it would most likely be in the flooring if there is some old type vinyl flooring.
We are just removing the wall and the uppers. Its a "c" shaped kitchen with the only opening being the door and we don't want to lose the lower cabinets. Just want to be able to see into the dining room.
1958,,,,,,
Maybe flooring,but even tiles that are asbestos,they are not friable..In solid form asbestos is not a hazard. Your home inspector will give you the lowdown of good points and downers..
Usually with old houses you worry about "lead paint" on the walls and "asbestos" in the flooring tiles or wrapped around pipes.
Since you are talking about a wall, did you intend to ask about lead paint and referred to asbestos by mistake?
It has already been tested for lead paint by the current owners and does not have any. I don't know if they removed it or if the owners way back did. They did some projects but they never tested for asbestos.
I had heard that occasionally asbestos can also be found in "tape" that can be found on the wall joints or in insulation... although we doubt this wall has any insulation on it. Its mostly hollow, it had a pocket door at one point but the door is no longer there.
Folks, be aware of the following relating to asbestos on sheetrock walls: if any asbestos present, more than likely it will be in the joint compound used on the walls (over the nails, at the joints, and corners). However, in the past some asbestos was used in the sheetrock itself.
If the OP has any worries about the section of wall to be cut-out for the door, all he needs to do is to have that section of sheetrock tested. The inspector will take a couple of core or crape samples and send them to a lab for testing, and the whole thing is not very expensive. If asbestos is found and you don't want to cut the wall, then pay a bonded contractor to cut it out for you, but this will be more expensive since the contractor may not be able to do it using glove-bags.
Forgot to mention: if the house has very old cove-base material, some of the cove-base adhesives used contained asbestos.
Folks, be aware of the following relating to asbestos on sheetrock walls: if any asbestos present, more than likely it will be in the joint compound used on the walls (over the nails, at the joints, and corners). However, in the past some asbestos was used in the sheetrock itself.
If the OP has any worries about the section of wall to be cut-out for the door, all he needs to do is to have that section of sheetrock tested. The inspector will take a couple of core or crape samples and send them to a lab for testing, and the whole thing is not very expensive. If asbestos is found and you don't want to cut the wall, then pay a bonded contractor to cut it out for you, but this will be more expensive since the contractor may not be able to do it using glove-bags.
Forgot to mention: if the house has very old cove-base material, some of the cove-base adhesives used contained asbestos.
Thanks. We already have someone in mind to do a test. I just wanted to make sure we wouldn't have to gut the kitchen if it is found, instead of just the one wall we want down
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