Asbestos/Vermiculite - Home

[Euro7r]

We did a home inspection on a potential home we are looking at. 68 years old home, generally decent condition for its age. The overall inspection turned out quite good, the typical wear and tear etc. The biggest concern I have is Asbestos & Vermiculite (attic) that got identified.

My knowledge is if you don't "disturb" it in any shape or form, you are good to go. However, if we do purchase we plan to do some light renovation in terms of cosmetics. E.g. Change up light fixtures, replace the stairs etc etc. I have read that it's best to get the whole house tested such as drywall, ceiling, flooring so that any "disturbance" such even a basic drilling into, you are playing it safe. Last thing I want is to drill holes onto the ceiling to mount new lighting and I'm exposed to asbestos. I don't want to assume because it's behind the walls, then everything is gucci.

What do you guys recommend how I should proceed? Is there a contractor out there in the lower mainland that can come in and inspect such? Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong about this stuff.

[jing]

Lots of hazmat/abatement contractors out there, but have personally only dealt with a couple of the bigger ones (Pinchin and ProActive). They charge an arm and a leg for testing and abatement but are very by the book. I have no idea how testing is like in residential but if it's anything like in healthcare/institutional then I've seen quotes/invoices for $1000+ to put a single 3/16" hole in the wall. If you're that concerned, be prepared to shell out big bucks.

[donk.]

I had a friend of a friend come out and do half a dozen tests for 300$ a few years ago.
I can reach out and see if she is still doing it on the side.

I had the same thing as you, bathroom Reno, and also wanted to know about the ceiling and general walls of the living room.

All of it was "containing".

With that being said, the whole asbestos thing is blown away out of proportion. Guys huffing two packs of smokes a day, sitting in 1hr of traffic inhaling car fumes, etc, and they are horrified by the thought of putting in a couple of holes to mount pictures.

If you got lots of work to do, wet it down, cut it, good to go.
Single hole for a picture mount? Just drill the dam hole.

Jing is correct on it being 1000$ by calling a company, we usually get charged around 1000$ for two samples for commercial work.... Pretty crazy, but that's the industry.

[Euro7r]

Originally Posted by donk.

I had a friend of a friend come out and do half a dozen tests for 300$ a few years ago.
I can reach out and see if she is still doing it on the side.

I had the same thing as you, bathroom Reno, and also wanted to know about the ceiling and general walls of the living room.

All of it was "containing".

With that being said, the whole asbestos thing is blown away out of proportion. Guys huffing two packs of smokes a day, sitting in 1hr of traffic inhaling car fumes, etc, and they are horrified by the thought of putting in a couple of holes to mount pictures.

If you got lots of work to do, wet it down, cut it, good to go.
Single hole for a picture mount? Just drill the dam hole.

Jing is correct on it being 1000$ by calling a company, we usually get charged around 1000$ for two samples for commercial work.... Pretty crazy, but that's the industry.

That would be awesome if you can help see if your friend is able to help. Definitely kick ya back a referral $ ��.

At the moment no plans to do anything crazy such as ripping walls off, mainly just cosmetic upgrades/changes to start as our plan. Would be good to know what else we can disturb and what we can't besides the obvious attic insulation.

I'm assuming as long as it doesn't get into the air where you can breath you should be okay? Would it be ideal to wet things down before hand? Like say painting a wall, patch up those imperfections and sand it down. Before sanding down, wet the areas. Maybe I'm going overboard, but figured be safe than sorry?

My dad in law YOLO it when he reno my brother in law house that is old. I guess at his age, who cares? Lol. Maybe no wonder why my brother in law doesn't live in it, literally just uses the house to store his stuff lol.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by Euro7r

At the moment no plans to do anything crazy such as ripping walls off, mainly just cosmetic upgrades/changes to start as our plan. Would be good to know what else we can disturb and what we can't besides the obvious attic insulation.

Attic insulation should be fine, shouldn't it? I'm under the impression that older houses generally just have fiberglass insulation (the pink fluffy stuff). You definitely don't want to breath that stuff in because it'll mess up your lungs, but face mask / N95 should work well enough?

[Hondaracer]

If you have vermiculite pellets as insulation that now considered asbestos containing regardless of a test.

Honestly if you’re worried about asbestos and want to handle it “properly” you better be ready to add 25-50% cost to any project you’re going to do. My old company started and ran our own abatement business and I was the lead on it. Took 2 weeks of training courses both practical and theory, worked in conjunction with WCB and municipalities on their guidelines etc. it’s all a fucking joke to be perfectly honest.

Ever watch the worksafe commercials? Notice how they say “make sure to get YOUR home tested to keep YOUR trades safe?” Notice how it never mentions the people actually living in the home who are 1000000% the one who are going to be living with fibers in the air lol

I ripped open two big walls, approx 10x10 to put structural beams in. I also ripped out a big vertical air duct which 100000% had like the worst possible asbestos wrap on it. I never had anything tested because A) I don’t want to know and B) I don’t want anything associated with asbestos on paper with my home.

All the work I did I poly’ed off the entire area floor to ceiling, wetted everything down, and used a shop vac with a HEPA filter to vaccume up everything once I was done, I then wetted everything again, wiped it down, and vacuumed up what dried all the while wearing at minimum P100 cartridge filters with a respirator.

I’ve seen quotes to take down small pony walls I could do in 2 hours cost $6000 because of the abatement. Good luck trying to do anything major paying for that

If the home has lathe and plaster it’s kind of 50/50 whether the actual plaster has asbestos in it. If you have regular gypsum wall board there very rarely is asbestos in the actual wall board but moreso the tape and joint compound. So if you’re doing some patching for painting, just do what you can not to cut into where a seam may be, and don’t sand down so far you’re into the material below your patch

[donk.]

Originally Posted by donk.

I had a friend of a friend come out and do half a dozen tests for 300$ a few years ago.
I can reach out and see if she is still doing it on the side.

No reply, il send you a message if she comes around

Edit: speak of the devil, but she is out....

[Euro7r]

Originally Posted by donk.

No reply, il send you a message if she comes around

Edit: speak of the devil, but she is out....

Thanks for trying to help out!

So far a lot of insightful information I have learned from you guys.