Abestos Removal
I have abestos on my boiler pipes in my basement, can anyone recommend a good licensed abestos removal company.
I have abestos on my boiler pipes in my basement, can anyone recommend a good licensed abestos removal company.
4m Contracting. I found them online on a list of approved asbestos contractors some time ago when I was searching and shopping to clean up the pipes in my cellar. Unfortunately I don’t recall contact info. I had a positive experience with them.
btw, it should be mentioned that there is a difference btw non-smokers and smokers in their susceptibility to bad results from breathing asbestos… over 90% of asbestos deaths are smokers. If you have never smoked, you have much less risk from breathing asbestos fibers.
I am pretty sure asbestos is still being manufactured too. It has specialty applications aplenty. A lot of foundry-specific safety equipment is made of asbestos, I am sure there are other things.
There are much, much more hazardous things out there that are used all the time. They just didn’t get all Lawsuit Famous.
It’s hazardous under specific circumstances–it’s a matter of fairly sustained contact with moderate-to-large quantities of inhalable fibers.
Re: the original post, I’d be happy to get asbestos taken off pipes if the plumbers were actively working on the pipes. It’s only fair–plumbers working regularly in basements are absolutely threatened by sustained contact with friable asbestos. But if they aren’t dealing with those pipes, and the insulation is intact, then removing it does everyone, including the plumbers, more harm than good.
Most asbestos insulation in older homes is damaged to a greater or lesser degree. No one will do any work on or around the boiler with asbestos present, and when you go to sell your house, it will be held against you. Nevertheless there are perhaps more risks in removing it than letting it be, especially if there is a lot of it and it is removed carelessly.
To my knowledge, there are no asbestos products being manufactured in the US today. Anyone doing so has been driven out of business by now between the lawsuits and the liabilities. Ditto in Europe, where most countries have completely banned it.
The only asbestos-containing products still in use in the USA, to my knowledge, are certain specialized friction materials, and they are imported from South America, and of course, China.
BFAG is right, asbestos does some things spectacularly well, and in many applications an equal substitute is yet to be found, even with the price of substitutes multiples of the original asbestos-containing product. However I will diverge from BFAG by saying that pipe insulation is not one of those products where there is a strong advantage over fiberglas. No doubt in fifty years fiberglas will also be discovered to be hazardous, and we’ll start the cycle all over again.
Thanks, I actually saw it after I posted my comment and I’m getting ready to call a few.
This was actually brought up 2 days ago, there are some numbers in there:
http://bstoner.wpengine.com/forum/archives/2009/01/asbestos_remova_12.php#comments
The abestos insulation is holding, but several companies suggested we remove the abestos inorder to fix the problems we’ve been having with our steam boiler and heating system.
Out of curiosity, are you simply removing the asbestos because you don’t want it in your home, or has it become a hazard that needs to be contained? I only ask because it seems that more and more people are removing asbestos unnecessarily. Asbestos was so prevalent because it is very good at its job – it is still manufactured to this day. If your insulation has become damaged and the fibers are exposed and capable of becoming airborne (friable) by all means it should be remedied. However, if it is intact and doing its job you will spend alot of time and money removing it and replacing it with an inferior product.