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The house I am working on used to have an oil furnace in the wall. They closed it in and I was thinking of opening it up again. Its a load bearing wall I know so there is some work to be done. The person that I had with me said there is asbestos in the wall where we saw the old furnace case, (they only left the aluminum case for it in the wall for some reason. But atleast on one side there is a really thin white material. I was told this is asbestos. Is this true and if it is what precautions should I take when getting it out of there. Also would it be located anywhere else besides around the old furnace by any chance?
The house I am working on used to have an oil furnace in the wall. They closed it in and I was thinking of opening it up again. Its a load bearing wall I know so there is some work to be done. The person that I had with me said there is asbestos in the wall where we saw the old furnace case, (they only left the aluminum case for it in the wall for some reason. But atleast on one side there is a really thin white material. I was told this is asbestos. Is this true and if it is what precautions should I take when getting it out of there. Also would it be located anywhere else besides around the old furnace by any chance?
Assuming that you do have asbestos...
To start with, I don't know what state you are in but it is likely that the removal of asbestos in a residential dwelling is non-regulated and doesn't require any permitting or training of any kind. However, the disposal of the waste needs to be properly done and documented by a licensed hauler and waste facility.
You could likely hire an environmental consulatant to collect and test the material in question. There are a few different lab tests that can be run ranging from $20 to $30 to over $100 for detailed analysis. An initial site visit may not cost more than a trip charge. The best thing you can do with asbestos is leave it alone unless it is damaged. If you have to remove it it would be worth it to hire a certified abatement company following a procedure that your consultant could stipulate and monitor for you.
Many homes built before the mid to late 1970's probably have asbestos in some form either in pipe or furnace insulation, floor tile and/or adhesive or often in sheet rock or door insulation and even window caulking. The material is often (not always) white and has tiny fibers visible but a test needs to be done to be certain. Asbestios is still mined in Canada and often is contained within sheet-rock that still comes into the country from China.
First, I would get a sample tested. You can buy a test kit or send a sample directly to a lab. I'm guessing the test kit contains a baggie, mailer and instructions. Here's a lab that tests for around $30, saving you the cost of the kit:
Once you identify that it is asbestos, your best bet is to encapsulate it and leave it in place. If you need to remove it, contact your Department of Environmental Quality to find out about your options. Some locations allow the homeowner to do it, others require professional removal.
Yep, all very good advice to which I'll add any work you do in the area of the old furnace REQUIRES that you wear high quality breathing protection for yourself and anyone else in that room!!!!
In addition remove any clothing (or wear a coverall) that can carry fibers out of the room to avoid contamination of other areas of the house. Bag and seal any clothing worn since there is no way to remove the fibers from clothing.
Asbestos is nasty stuff to deal with so any pre-caution you can take will benefit all you come in contact with.
The risk of aesbestos is massively overblown. Look up the information on the internet or in books that does not come from aesbestos lawyers. You need to make your own decisions, but my conclusion was that unless you breath clouds of the stuff with no mask for several years, it is not a significant risk.
Personally I would just wear a mask remove it and bury it in the back yard, throw the mask away and take a shower. Either that or paint it or otherwise seal it up so that it is not releasing dust. Keep in mind that if you paint it, you need high tempurature paint.
Aesbestos is not a dangerous substance left undisturbed. Actually it is a great material. As someone pointed out, it is breathing the dust that poses a risk (if you breathe a ton of it). If it is not turned into dust and breathed in, it just sits there completely inert. It was in most building prodcuts for decades, especially school building products. No one was ever injured by it until workers in aesbestos factories and mines came down with Aesbestosis. When I looked into it, there was not one case of a homewoner, school worker or attendee, or even cosntruction worker getting the disease, it was limited to people with prolonged exposure to clouds of aesbestos dust with no breathing protection.
However you should make your own decision. Do not listen to salesmen or people on CD. Collect the information, find out what exposure levels the people who were confirmed to have aesbestosis had, and decide for yourself how to deal with it. You can deal with it yourself, or call in the guys in white suits who will remove it for a few thousand dollars.
It may be illegal to throw it in your trash can. Where I used to live, it was illegal to put it in the trash, but not illegal to bury it in your back yard. Odd eh?
I've always believed that when I share an opinion to follow the policy of......Do no harm....which can't possibly cause another person to act upon mistaken information so common of the net.
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