ASBESTOS

Can someone please shed some light on this: I’ve read some terrifying stories but today I spoke to person who’s been removing Asbestos for 30 years and told me that it wasn’t used that much in Bedstuy so EVEN IF you open all walls and change all plumbing and electricity the likelihood of finding a lot of Asbestos is small. Also – and importantly – he said regardless of how much they find their charge caps at 4K. And here’s the conundrum I’m baffled about: You obviously can’t strip a house to see what’s behind the walls, but then the previous owner says it’s not their responsibility. So what do you do?

Guest User | 7 years and 9 months ago

1

Please log in, in order to post replies!

1 replies

Newest Oldest

Lurker | 7 years and 9 months ago

string(1) "1"
object(WP_User)#4931 (8) {
  ["data"]=>
  object(stdClass)#4912 (12) {
    ["ID"]=>
    string(6) "113126"
    ["user_login"]=>
    string(6) "Lurker"
    ["user_pass"]=>
    string(34) "$P$Biam83uc193o8.v5qK1VChb9yjJ5vu."
    ["user_nicename"]=>
    string(6) "lurker"
    ["user_email"]=>
    string(22) "jcjedi_10003@yahoo.com"
    ["user_url"]=>
    string(21) "/forums/users/lurker/"
    ["user_registered"]=>
    string(19) "2011-01-19 18:44:20"
    ["user_activation_key"]=>
    string(0) ""
    ["user_status"]=>
    string(1) "0"
    ["display_name"]=>
    string(6) "Lurker"
    ["spam"]=>
    string(1) "0"
    ["deleted"]=>
    string(1) "0"
  }
  ["ID"]=>
  int(113126)
  ["caps"]=>
  array(2) {
    ["subscriber"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["bbp_participant"]=>
    bool(true)
  }
  ["cap_key"]=>
  string(15) "wp_capabilities"
  ["roles"]=>
  array(2) {
    [0]=>
    string(10) "subscriber"
    [1]=>
    string(15) "bbp_participant"
  }
  ["allcaps"]=>
  array(4) {
    ["read"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["level_0"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["subscriber"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["bbp_participant"]=>
    bool(true)
  }
  ["filter"]=>
  NULL
  ["site_id":"WP_User":private]=>
  int(1)
}

Asbestos has been used in commonly all kinds of building materials–plaster, wall board, floor tile, ceiling tile, popcorn/textured paint, insulation, caulk—but the particularly dangerous type is the stuff that is friable, or turns to dust. Still, you just never know, and if you’re doing any kind of permitted work you’re required to test on every surface which will be affected, and file the results in your permit application, and those tests alone end up costing a couple thousand depending.

If you’re concerned before getting an official piece of paper stating where asbestos is, you can take samples of material and get them tested yourself. Then decide accordingly I believe there’s some sort of trigger whereby if you have less than a certain amount of friable insulation you dont’ have to have complex and pricey remediation; if you have more, then you end up having to have on-site showers and exhaust fans and air monitoring; it’s absurd for a modest two family but there you go.

As for stuff you can’t see, if you have an old boiler installed it’s not unusual to have a sbestos insulation around the pipes in the walls. Depending on the work you do you could just trap it in the ceilings and walls.