Asbestos

[Freds]

I was always told it was asbestos. I used to be in the HVAC business, too, and was told they used to dip the tape in water then wrap their joints with it to seal them. When done right it can be a real bear to get off. If you have silver colored cloth flexible connections in your ductwork, that's asbestos, too.
If it was my house the canvas connection would go because the fabric is in the airstream, but the asbestos tape would stay unless you were redoing your duct system. I've got it around a lot of my pipes in my house...
cough, cough /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[thcri]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I've been in the hvac business for a while too. I've even been cited for disturbing asbestos and had to appear at Labor Dept. hearing. )</font>


Something to be real proud of?? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Unfortunately whether one thinks it is hype or not, attorneys just love that kind of thing and whether someone is harmed or not they will come after you. It may be your house now but in the next few years it may be someone else's and you may be drawn in because you didn't take care of it. It is not our decision to say it is safe or not.

This is just my experience, each of you can do it's own.

murph

 

[pennwalk]

Asbestos is weird stuff cause some people are not suseptable to it but others all it takes is one small fiber in the lungs and they come down with lung cancer. And it doesn't come on right away it takes years so you never know. I used to work at a place that had it sprayed on the steel up in the ceiling. There was a drop ceiling but the maintainance guys had to get up in there to work on the mechanicals. I know one of the guys and his x-rays show asbestos damage but he doesn't have cancer yet. You know he and his family are plenty worried. I don't think the concerns about asbestos are all hype. I would treat the stuff very carefully and let someone else deal with it if you need to mess with it.

Chris

 

[tawilson]

Where did I say I was proud of it? I mentioned to show that I have had experience with asbestos abatement. I had some laborers remove some heating units at a school district, there was some mortar behind the units which had asbestos in it. No way to see it ahead of time and it didn't amount to squat. But an abatement contractor onsite noticed, blew the whistle, shut down the job for two months, got a fat contract to remove it and wipe down the whole school. Probably why I'm so cynical of the whole thing. It's added a lot of cost to school districts renovation work. There's been several abatement contractors in NY busted in the last couple years for improperly techniques. I believe some of them got hefty jail sentences. And don't even get me started on lawyers.

 

[slowrev]

Just this one bit of info from me on the asbestos. In a house I was selling the inspection turned up about 1 sq yd of the asbestos paper you describe on ductwork. cost me over $4,000 to have it removed, and that was almost 20 years ago.
Ben

 

[getut]

Go ahead and think that it is hype and go ahead and think that the stuff won't hurt you.

My father and about 5-6 of his co-workers would say different. The company they worked for can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that asbestos exposure was basically limited to a single hospital job they did. 4 of them actually COULDN'T say anything to you now because they are dead. My dad is lucky because he was a supervisor and had much less exposure than anyone else. He has spots on his lungs and a continuous cough. The guys that worked in it are not so lucky.

The main exposure for them was ceiling tiles. Hard stuff. Not the fluffy stuff.

 

[slowrev]

If asbestos is kept wet it will not give off fibers into the air. One thing once you let anyone official know about the asbestos, you are locked into the official expensive route. The asbestos found in the house I was selling was found by an inspector, so I had no choice but to pay over 4K, for the removal of a bread bag full of asbestos....
I am not recommending that anyone do the removal themselves. But had I known about the asbestos before the inspector, I would have worn tyvek disposable coveralls, gloves, taped cuffs, and good respirator. wet the stuff and removed it and buried it, along with the safety gear. I would have been out less than $100 for the safety gear.
Ben

 

[Toiyabe]

There's two issues here -

First is whether there is a significant health risk from the asbestos as it is.

Second is whether removal of the asbestos, even if done by an experianced professional, will create a greater risk then leaving it be.

Both questions are debateable. Unfortanetly due to fear of litigation there's a lack of rational, risk-based information on the subject.

If it was clear that the answer to the second question is no, then you could be conservative and have it removed by a professional. As it is, there is not even a course of action that is obviously safer then doing nothing.

It is true that asbestos based products are still manufactured and used in Canada, and they are finding their way back into the US via NAFTA.

It is quite clear that some people who manufactured, installed and removed asbestos products developed asbestos-related health problems. Whether there is a statistically significant risk due to exposure to installed product is much less clear.

 

[UncleBuck01]

Slowrev
Tried to talk to a company over the phone to find out if they have to "report to authorities" they asked too many questions about house (address,county,owner,etc) Decided to end conversation.
In the meantime, I noticed that in one of the locations I found this cardboard ????????,It was in rough shape (starting to flake), had to do something Saturated it with water ????????xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx dripping wet, ??????????????????????xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx water seemed to keep it safe.I will eventually xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx???????, no rush because they are in fairly good shape.

 

[erich]

Man I hate to weigh in on this because of the potential for hard feelings but I feel I have to. I does not matter whether you think it is hype or not, this is covered by federal and state law. Asbestos removal is not a do it yourself project because of that. Consult a professional. You'll want someone that does testing and monitoring, usually an industrial hygienist. These are the people that oversee the removal contractors. You may find out that it only needs to be encapsulated. If so, the cost will be alot less.

I would not feel bashful about going back to the previous owner and the realtor. Unfortunately, now that you have taken ill advised action you may own it and may have admitted to the world that you broke the law here on TBN.

Eric