If you plan to remodel your house, then you must first check for the presence of asbestos in your house structure. If it’s an old house, then chances are high that it contains asbestos, as earlier home construction used asbestos as one of the materials.
Contacting experts
You must contact one of the asbestos removal companies in the United States. They carry the necessary training and equipment to eliminate asbestos matter from any building structure in the safest manner possible. They are also trained in proper disposal of this material, as it cannot be simply thrown away in trash.
Asbestos training
The professionals undergo special training sessions wherein they are taught about detecting asbestos in various structures, removing it or coating it with appropriate material, and disposing it.
While working on asbestos removal, the professionals wear special protection gear because asbestos fibers can easily get suspended in air. Being microscopic, they can easily enter your lungs during inhalation and are hardly visible through the naked eye.
Working under OSHA guidelines
OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), which comes under the Department of Labor, talks about a set of guidelines and standards which every employer must abide to for creating a safe and healthy workplace.
Asbestos removal contractors remove and dispose of asbestos from your building as per the OSHA guidelines. They utilize a combination of equipment and processes such as using HEPA vacuums and performing wet mopping for removing the mineral and cleaning the area.
Thereafter, they carry out an air quality test to check the presence of asbestos fibrils in the air. Only when the air is detected completely free of asbestos particles are the people allowed to enter the premises.
Reputable and licensed contractors follow strict standards and policies. They do not compromise in any of the step of asbestos removal, disposal, and air checks.
Why is DIY asbestos removal strictly NOT recommended?
Experts in this field would never recommend DIY asbestos removal due to the health hazard in dealing with this mineral.
Being careful is not enough. You must have the necessary training and should also know the OSHA guidelines. A common person may not know all this. Asbestos removal contractors undergo stringent training and then become eligible for performing the removal and disposal tasks.
Moreover, they don’t do this with bare hands. They wear full protection gear, which is a specialized “dress” that prevents them from inhaling the asbestos-contaminated air while removing the mineral from building structures.
About asbestos
Asbestos occurs naturally on Earth as a fibrous silicate mineral. It is a group of minerals, six of them, which are made of slender and long fibrous crystals. Each fiber is composed of multiple fibrils, which are microscopic and can easily get released in the air through abrasion and other ways. Humans and animals can inhale these almost invisible fibrils. They enter the lungs and can cause irreparable damage to the organ, including lung cancer.
The six minerals in the asbestos group are:
- Actinolite
- Amosite
- Chrysotile
- Anthophyllite
- Tremolite
- Crocidolite
The word “asbestos” is a Greek word, which in English means “Inextinguishable.”
Asbestos can be anywhere in your house – in the ceilings, floorings, roof tiles, shingles, and so on. You may not know.
That’s why it is better to contact the experts in this field to detect the presence of asbestos, remove it, dispose it of properly, and to check the air quality as the last step.
You can easily find licensed asbestos removal companies online. Removing asbestos is no bank-breaking affair. The companies can give you a quote online, or the team may visit your place and you can discuss the project with them.