Asbestos Removal – Everything You Wanted to Know and More
This is the post that I’ve been putting off writing. Why? I was still dealing with the shock of it all. The gist of it is, if you think your home is safe from asbestos, you could be dead wrong! I thought our home was in the asbestos-free time frame, but I was sorely mistaken. Â
Background: What started as a small leak turned into a massive gut of our kitchen. The disaster restoration team came in and started assessing the damage. What happened next was a downward spiral of issues I pray never happens to you. The polybutylene pipe failure from two weeks ago turned into a full blown mold remediation (luckily it wasn’t black mold.) Shortly after removing the water soaked base cabinets in our kitchen, the project manager discovered old vinyl flooring under our newer vinyl flooring. He told me that they sent a sample to the lab for asbestos testing. I said, “Okay.” And dismissed it knowing that our house couldn’t possibly contain asbestos. The next morning I got a phone call, “The lab results came back and that old flooring tested positive for asbestos.”
What I learned over the next few days about asbestos both scared me and re-assured me. Now that our home is officially asbestos-free and we’ve finally moved back into the house, I’m emotionally ready to share with you what I learned.
 
Asbestos fibers under a microscope courtesy of Wikipedia Commons
What is asbestos? (source: EPA.gov)
Asbestos is a mineral fiber. It can be positively identified only with a special type of microscope. There are several types of asbestos fibers. In the past, asbestos was added to a variety of products to strengthen them and to provide heat insulation and fire resistance. Asbestos as a building material made sense before it was discovered to cause health problems. It was heat and fire resistant and the glues that contain asbestos work REALLY well. You can’t get glue for vinyl flooring today that sticks as well as the asbestos based glues. Thankfully, asbestos has been banned in the US.
But, here is the crazy thing: Back in the early 1900’s asbestos was suspected to be a health hazard. In 1924, a UK citizen was the first person diagnosed with Asbestosis (progressive fibrosis of the lungs.) In 1931, the term Mesothelioma (a rare form of cancer) was used in medical literature. But, the risks and dangers of asbestos were swept under the rug and hidden until the 1970’s. Finally, in 1989 asbestos in building materials was phased out and eventually banned in 2003. That is almost 80 years after the dangers of asbestos were first discovered! Which means that in the meantime asbestos was used in almost a million residences and buildings. And over 100,000 people have become ill or died from asbestos exposure.
Asbestos is used in (but not limited to) per Wikipedia:
- Roofing and siding materials
- Some roofing and siding shingles are made of asbestos cement
- Insulation of a home built between 1930-1950
- Attic and wall insulation as vermiculite ore
- Textured paint and wall patching
- Artificial ashes and embers used in gas fireplaces
- Old stove-top pads
- Walls and floors around woodburning stoves can have asbestos fiber, millwork or concrete pads
- Vinyl floor tiles and the backing on vinyl sheet flooring
- Vinyl floor adhesives
- Asbestos blanket or tape on hot water and steam pipes in older homes
- Oil and coal furnaces door gasket insulation
The bottom line is that your home could have asbestos products even if it was built in and prior to 2003. The asbestos abatement team told me that just because there was a ban placed on the use of asbestos, there were still products containing it on store shelves. For this reason, you should never assume that your home is asbestos-free. It is much safer to have a professional test for asbestos if you don’t know. Then discover that you were exposed when it is too late.
What to do if you suspect (and even if you don’t suspect) that you have an asbestos product in your home:
First of all, don’t freak out. Call a professional asbestos abatement company and have them do a quick test on the product. They will take a 1″ sample of the material and perform a PLM (Polarized Light Microscopy) test by looking for asbestos fiber structures under a microscope. If it is determined that you have asbestos, you need to determine the risk of the fibers being released into the air. If you have asbestos flooring that is in good condition (not flaking, damaged or will be tampered with) you can lay new flooring over top of the old floor. In the case of our vinyl flooring, one of the previous owners had added new flooring on top of the old. This is acceptable, but it must be disclosed that there is asbestos flooring in the home when you go to sell. It is presumably safe to live in a home that has asbestos products as long as they aren’t at risk of creating air borne fibers.
In our case, the mold remediation team had to remove the water soaked floor and would be damaging the old asbestos vinyl underneath. This could loosen and expose fibers that could be inhaled and potentially lead to health problems.
How Asbestos is Removed?
I was told that we could stay in the house during the abatement, but there was no way I was going to chance having my kids in the house. We decided to move everyone out of the house (complicated by the fact that we were getting headaches from the mold.)
The abatement team arrived and sealed off the room(s) completely. Doorways, ducts and even the windows are sealed with plastic. Big scary asbestos signs are placed on every doorway to deter people from entering.
Two giant HEPA filters are installed outside a window and suck the air out of the room. This creates negative air pressure which prevents air from escaping into the rest of the house.
The asbestos abatement team wears disposable suits (and I was told even disposable underwear.) Â They wear respirators and gloves.
The floor boards are cut into manageable sections and the edges are taped off to contain the asbestos backing and glue under the vinyl. The sheets are loaded into a truck. All debris is vacuumed and cleaned from the room and disposed of in plastic bags. All the contaminated materials, clothing, etc. are hauled back to the abatement company where they are dumped into a special sealed dumpster for asbestos products.
After the abatement team is done, they must strip down and take a shower (usually a portable shower is brought to the job site.) Only after the shower can they put on their regular clothes.
Portable shower for abatement team to use after finishing the job.
Air test for Asbestos
After the abatement is complete, an air test must be performed before anyone can enter the room without protective gear. A TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) or a PCM (Phase Contrast Microscopy) air sample is analyzed. In our house, the TEM was used which is supposedly more accurate. The technician was a trained professional who put on his own protective gear. He ran a leaf blower around the room to stir up any dust and fibers that may have settled on the floor and in crevices. Then ran a small vacuum pump that sucked air through a filter for 45 minutes.
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An acceptable asbestos air test will come back with less than .01 fibers per cc. Luckily our home was clear and we were allowed to move back in. But, now this is our reality:
That’s right, we now have a scooter track in our home. I may miss our kitchen, but the boys don’t seem to mind.
To be continued…
You can read more about our kitchen disaster and renovation in these updates:
- Polybutylene Pipe Leak turns into Moldy Mess
- Planning New Kitchen Layout and more
- Planning Colors and Materials for the New Kitchen
- Let the Demolition Begin
- How to Remove Soffits
- Move Back in the Kitchen Temporarily and Throw a New Year’s Party
- Termite Damage and Kitchen Update
- How and When You Should File for a Permit during a Kitchen Renovation – Your Questions Answered
- Everything You Should Know about Termites and Termite Damage
- Structural Engineer Plans and another Kitchen Update
- How to Survive without a Kitchen During Renovation
I’d love to see the bill too. We had asbestos tile in our den and when I called to ask an abatement company, they told me it was easy to do myself so to just wet it all down and pull it up. I wore a HEPA mask and used some soy-based solvent for removing the mastic. Every once in a while I worry that I took 30 years of mine and Scott’s lives and hurt our puppies, but I also checked out the EPA websites for both the US and Canada and they have similar recommendations. It was a long process, but I’m glad it’s gone now. Unfortunately, we probably have it in a couple more rooms, including the kitchen.
Bri, we saw the bill finally, it was $3.5K, but was paid by insurance.
Brittany, thank you very much for you, your website and your post about this. Was your asbestos removal $35,000 or $3,000-$5,000? The font is making it difficult for me to tell which numbers you typed.
We have just found your website and your blog about your experience…during our own research for what will soon come to be our own nightmare as well. Our homeowners insurance will not pay for the removal of asbestos. They also will not pay for the repair of our flood-damaged areas until the asbestos has been removed.
It was $3,500.
OH man, what an ordeal, mold AND asbestos! At least it’s behind you now and you can move on to the more fun stuff! Hey, I live in an older house (1946) and I believe there is asbestos in the original kitchen flooring. (I may have been told this 20 yrs ago when I moved in, but I’m getting old and senile and can’t remember for sure!) Anyway, I am about to embark on a DIY kitchen remodel. And after reading your asbestos post the other day, I realized that I need to get my floor tested, and if there IS asbestos I must either have it abated professionally OR just go over everything with new floor (which means there will be 4 layers of flooring and a 1/2 ” to 3/4″ step up into my kitchen, erg.) Can I ask you how much the abatement cost? (or did insurance pay since the removal was part of your leaking pipe problem?) I am very bummed about the prospect of paying a ton for this to be done since I am already on such a tight budget. I might just go with a “raised” kitchen. Sighhhh. Oh, I also live in the SF Bay Area in CA which means whatever you paid I can probably double it :)~ Thanks for any info you can give me.
Julie, I wish I had more information on the cost for you. If I see the bill I’ll let you know. Do you have homeowner’s insurance? Ours paid for the abatement. It does sound like a tough situation for you to be in and that is a lot of floor layers. I’d be willing to bet that one of them has asbestos ;-(.
We’re in the midwest where things are probably much cheaper, but we just had all the asbestos on our duct work taken off, and it was $1000.
Thanks for the info, Starr. I imagine my floor would be a good $2000 or $3000. And that’s a good chunk of my budget. I think it’s going to be “step up” time into my kitchen. Not ideal, but not the end of the world. Gotta work with what ya got, right? Hmmm, perhaps I should paint the threshold bright Yellow and add a “CAUTION” sign?? :)~
The total cost for Asbestos Abatement was about $3.5K, but it was billed directly to the restoration company.
Brittany…what an informative post…You have certainly had so many obstacles to overcome. Thanks for always sharing such important and vital information on our homes…Glad that you are finally in and asbestos free.
Wow! Thanks for sharing and so glad you are asbestos free. Living in an older home, asbestos is something that’s been on my mind lately… makes me wonder about my attic insulation especially. Great post and so sorry you had to go through this!
I really appreciate you posting this information! I probably would have torn up the floor in our hallway, familyroom & kitchen not realizing what dangers I was exposing my family to. It’s not that I haven’t heard of it before, but I read your blog daily and kinda feel like I know you. I guess it feels more real seeing how you and your family have gone through this.
Just want to make sure to thank you!
Thanks Beth. Be careful girl. Asbestos is serious stuff.
I’m sorry you’re having to go through this, Brittany. But this is a really informative post, and includes info that I don’t think has been widely publicized in the past. I think people who live in newer homes don’t think asbestos could be an issue for them, but obviously that isn’t the case.
A lot of people will know know this because you wrote about your experience. Silver lining, perhaps?
And you do know that once your kitchen is back in order, your boys are still going to expect to be able to ride their scooters inside. You’ve set a dangerous precedent. 🙂
Take care,
Amy
Hey, girl! I’m glad you are back in your house now, so sorry you had to go through all this, but hopefully the silver lining will be a great new kitchen. Can’t wait to see what all you do in there. Hang in there!
What an ordeal you have been through! At our home we went through the discovery and removal of dry-rot and reading your post brought back the memories. I really feel for you.
When things go wrong here we often say “Life is what happens when you were busy making other plans” This sure is a big life ordeal.
But I do love the scooter track, I bet it’s loads of fun 🙂
Ann
Oh my goodness Brittany, you’ve been through quite an ordeal! I sure hope your insurance covered all this. What a mess. Did it ruin your kitchen cabinets too? Thanks for giving the heads up on asbestos. I don’t think we have any in our house either, but it’s good to know what to look out for. Hope this week is a much better one!
Deborah
It ruined two of the lower cabinets. But, we are considering ripping them all out and starting fresh…or I should say I’ll be doing most of it.
Hi Brittany! I’ve learned a lot from your water damage post and now your asbestos post. Thank you for taking the time to provide extremely educational and well-written and in-depth posts while you have been dealing with all of this. Right after the water damage post, I re-acquainted myself to my house’s water shut-off – Thank you! Would you consider writing an occassional “Home Upkeep/Maintenance” post?
When life gives you “stinky-polybutylene-pipe-water-damage-and-what-the-hell-asbestos-flooring”, I love that you can spin it into a scooter track! Keep finding the humor and I’m glad your family is safe!
Koliti, I will put it on my growing list of posts to write ;-). Great idea!
I just went and read your posting about the beginning of this saga. You do such a valuable service when you post this information, thank you SO much. I need to find out where the shut off valve is and how to shut it off; a huge, major leak is my nightmare scenario. When I read of your experience, I recognize that I have to be the big girl and learn what to do BEFORE something happens.
The question that kept running through my mind, over and over was, how much does this all cost? I am glad that your family is back home and the problem has been fixed, but what a burden. Again, I wish my thanks helped in some way to offset the cost. Hang in there.
Sue, we haven’t seen the final bill yet, but we exceeded the $5K cap just for mold and are now paying out of pocket ;-(. The put our kitchen back together is about $10K.
AND, I really appreciate your comment, it helped make me smile 😉
Sue, we finally saw the bill for the Asbestos Remediation and it was $3.5K
Thank for sharing this! I’m trying to see how much we may be on the hook for since we have asbestos that needs to be removed. I know this is an old post but still very relevant! I’m hoping my homeowners insurance covers part of it.
Heather, I hope your insurance picks up most if not all of the bill. I’m sorry you have to go through this.
Thanks for such an informative post on asbestos. Glad to hear that you now have your kitchen back and you are all safe.
Hope you have the energy/time to continue sharing your leaky pipe story. Wow, life experiences you didn’t ask for.
Joy
Thanks for sharing this real life experience. While a total bummer and life changer, looks like you have some exciting kitchen planning to get done. So do share a little more about the leak because my husband was thinking of switching out some of our copper piping.
Copper pipes are the best ones you can have. If installed properly they should last a long time. You can read more about our leaky pipe and how to determine if you have polybutylene pipes here: https://prettyhandygirl.com/2012/10/water-leaks-polybutylene-pipes-and-mold-what-to-do.html