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Questions tagged [asbestos]

For questions about asbestos and asbestos mitigation. Please note that questions about identifying asbestos cannot be answered on this site and are likely to be closed as off topic. Asbestos identification requires a lab test.

Asbestos is a fibrous mineral. It has been used in the past in tiles, cladding and roofing materials and as insulation primarily due to its desirable properties of heat and electrical resistance.

In the 1970's Asbestos was identified as a health and safety hazard causing serious lung disease and cancer.

For more information see: Wikipedia: Asbestos

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Is my plan to safely remove asbestos siding sound?

After reading a some other questions I haven't found an answer similar enough for what I'm thinking about doing. So here goes. Full disclosure up front. Before I even touch a single siding shingle, I'm going to check with local authorities to get…
Paul TIKI
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Must I remove asbestos from my heating vents?

I've got an old house with some asbestos tape on the heating vents, and some old floor tiles which are asbestos suspects as well; duct cleaning firms won't do cleaning on the vents with the tape present. Do I really need to call in the space suit…
SqlACID
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Asbestos contamination

Recently we did some remodeling in the house, which is built around 50's. Never crossed our mind to get the house tested for asbestos. So we decided to do so in the middle of renovation. If the result come back positive, what should we do with items…
Ally
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What type of clothing is required when working around asbestos?

I find myself exploring environments rich in Asbestos, the specific type of asbestos appears to be both pipes and potentially the cladding around them (steam pipes etc), occasionally broken sheets as well. From time to time I'm required to crawl…
NULLZ
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How can I be sure all the asbestos particles are gone?

So we got rid of the popcorn ceiling that had asbestos. Now my wife is worried about the particles that might still be lingering in the air. How long until it settles down? Wet-mopping, HEPA vacuuming and opening the doors/windows will help? I…
Tomas Garcia
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How do I hang a shelf without drilling holes?

I'm currently living in a house in which we have clear instructions not to drill through the walls for danger of asbestos. I purchased a small projector and would like to mount a shelf to the wall, but I know that I cannot drill through. The…
akerpz
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Does washing reduce asbestos?

So I was doing some work in the garage a few months ago and dislodged about a lemon size chunk of what at the time I thought was just some old concrete which fell on me and left some dust on a sweatshirt I was wearing. Fast forward a few months and…
alexpotato
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Is this asbestos wiring insulation?

I just found this wire while changing the light switches at a house I bought (built in 1960). The long "fiber" on the left looks awfully suspicious, is this asbestos? Thanks
Dyierz
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Is this material asbestos?

It looks like some form of insulation with a cardboard backing. The previous tenant in the apartment said he found a stack of this material in the basement and used it to insulate around a window ac unit. Its a two-story building in brooklyn. I'm…
Ryan Johnson
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What dangers are there with disturbed asbestos drywall?

We had a repipe job done on our home 5 years ago. I was stupid and did not research the company before they destroyed drywall throughout the house. After the pipes were replaced they informed me that they do not repair the drywall and it is my job…
Colleen Hanson
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What should I do about ceiling tiles that potentially contain asbestos?

A family member is considering purchasing a house, built in the Midwestern United States in 1958. In the basement, there are nine inch ceiling tiles on the ceiling. The home inspection mentioned that it cannot confirm that these tiles are not…
Kyle
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How can I seal the edges of a linoleum floor that possibly contains asbestos?

The linoleum floor in my kitchen was installed extremely poorly (long before I started renting the apartment). Many of the edges are curling and in some places, it was not cut to the correct size and they just left the excess curled over. I am…
user12662
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I might have accidentally vacuumed asbestos. Is the vacuum ruined now?

If an ordinary shop vacuum has sucked up asbestos, should it be considered unsafe after that and thrown away? I don't know if this is the right kind of question for this site but I thought I would try. The story: I was vacuuming some debris from a…
user16524
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An asbestos panel was removed without realising, how much danger are we in?

Two years ago a builder was working on our Victorian house and removed a approx. 1 ft x 2ft6 panel, then realised it might be asbestos. He said he got rid of it safely, and didn't damage it, and that everything was fine and we didn't think much…
Corvus
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Can you lay ceramic/porcelain tile over existing mastic without grinding the floor?

We had a basement flood, and consequently had to rip out the vinyl floor tiles in our basement. The tiles were not asbestos (we had them tested). But after the tiles came up we discovered that they had been secured with black mastic. The adhesive…
user25271
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