Exposure to asbestos, especially long-term exposure can lead to asbestosis and lung cancer. Even though asbestos was banned for most products in 1978, it is not required to be removed (abated). However, there is a caveat, if the building is going to be demolished or pending construction will disturb existing asbestos, the asbestos must be dealt with ahead of time.
Of course, As you can imagine, there are tons of government rules and regulations as to how to deal with asbestos. Asbestos was commonly used in floor tiles, insulation around pipes and boilers, in ceiling tiles, and plaster, and on many other surfaces including steel trusses and the underside of the steel supporting roofs, and floor tiles. Asbestos was used in literally thousands of construction materials so obviously, there are too many to be named here.
The picture above shows some deteriorated pipe insulation which is considered “friable”. Friable means the material can be crushed with your hand thereby releasing fibers. This kind of deterioration is quite common in buildings and homes that have not been well maintained. Most people will want to have friable asbestos removed for safety reasons.
New York State licenses Asbestos Investigators who must be certified in assessing and investigating the presence of asbestos-containing material (ACM). These licensed individuals are trained to know what materials may contain asbestos and how to collect the samples safely. The samples then go to a lab where they are analyzed for asbestos and a report is created for the owner or occupant of the property. Plans for how to deal with the asbestos can then be made.
If you want to learn more about how to deal with possible asbestos in a building or home, the first thing to do is contact a New York State Licensed Asbestos Investigator. For your information, Safe Harbor Inspections Inc can provide this service.
For more related information click on this link: https://safeharborinspections.com/
