Asbestos in the home is a scary prospect for today's home buyers. Over the years, they have been getting more and more concerned about Asbestos in ceilings, flooring tiles and anywhere else it my be hiding. We have teamed up with the Mesothelioma Center to get the facts to you.
Where Asbestos Can be Found:
In the Home The amount of asbestos that can be found within a home depends on when the home was built or renovated. If the house, or anything in it, was built before the mid-1970s, there is a good chance of finding asbestos-containing materials. However, asbestos was still used in homes though the 1980s and is found in construction products made today. These materials can be found in a variety of places ranging from the roof to the basement.
Asbestos materials that are difficult to locate include vinyl wall coverings, ceiling tiles, and sprayed or troweled on "popcorn" textured coatings. For these products, the only way to find the asbestos-containing fibers is to scientifically sample them for testing by using an EPA-certified lab.
It is important to determine if asbestos is located in the water or steam pipes. If the pipes do contain asbestos, they are safe as long as they are not damaged by water leaks or by children playing nearby. It is best to coat them with modern protection such as plastic sheeting or sprays that will harden and encapsulate the asbestos fibers. These protections, however, will make it more difficult to remove the insulation and will have to be removed at a later date. Most states and/or municipalities require separate removal and proper disposal of all asbestos-containing materials when any building is demolished, or when an area is renovated where such materials are present.
What is the Difference Between Friable and Non-Friable?
There is a major distinction between friable and non-friable asbestos materials. Asbestos-containing material (flooring, roofing, pipe wrap, insulation, etc.) in the home can be crushed, pulverized, or turned to powder by the pressure of the average human hand are known as friable materials and can release dry asbestos fibers into the air. Non-friable materials are either tough or flexible enough to contain the embedded asbestos fibers, but with age and normal wear and tear, these non-friable materials can become friable.
Federal law recognizes these variations within the classification of non-friable asbestos. There are two categories of non-friable material. One distinguishes material that has become friable for one rea
son or another (Category I). The other is material that remains non-friable (Category II). Even Category II material may be regulated as friable material. If Category II non-friable material has been cut, scraped, sanded, or disturbed to where it produces dust, or if it is likely to be be disturbed during demolition or renovation, it falls under the friable and Category I materials.
What is Banned?
• In 1972, asbestos was banned from clothing
• In 1973, spraying asbestos-containing materials on buildings to fireproof them was no longer allowed
• In 1977, asbestos was taken out of patching compounds and gas heaters
• As of 1979, hair dryer manufacturers voluntarily recalled products that use asbestos as insulation. They replaced the asbestos with other materials and stopped using asbestos in their new products.
In 1986, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed a 10-year program that would result in a comprehensive ban on commercial use of asbestos. The ban passed in 1989 and the first phase was implemented in 1990, but the rule was overturned by a federal appeals court in 1991. After another two years of clarification, the EPA found itself with six types of asbestos-containing materials still banned, and all others nominally still on the free market (though most categories were rapidly losing popularity).
These six include:
1. Flooring felt - asbestos paper saturated with asphalt or another material to serve as underlayment for vinyl tiles or sheet flooring
2. "Commercial paper" - used in thin barriers for insulation or muffling
3. "Corrugated paper" - similar to corrugated cardboard, but with asbestos in one or more of the layers of paper
4. "Rollboard" - two sheets of asbestos paper laminated together (using a roller) into a continuous, flexible sheet. Particularly used in office partitions, garage paneling, linings for stoves and electrical boxes, and fireproofing for security boxes, safes, and file storage.
5. "Specialty paper" - for use in filters for beverages and other fluids. Also in cooling towers for liquids from industrial processes and air conditioning systems
6. "New uses of asbestos" - products have not historically contained asbestos at of the start of the regulatory process in 1989
Some other regulations under the Clean Air Act restrict other particular methods of applying asbestos-containing materials.
What are the Categories of Asbestos-Containing Materials?
To qualify as an asbestos-containing material (ACM) under the law, a product must contain more than 1 percent asbestos, either by weight for bulky materials or by area for flat ones. Regulations distinguish between friable ACM (can be reduced to dust by the crushing of hands) and non-friable ACM (cannot be crushed or damaged so easily).
There are two categories within the group of non-friable ACMs. Category I distinguishes material that has become friable because of whether, aging, or force and can release asbestos fibers into the air. Category II is everything else non-friable. Category II ACMs can also come under regulation if they are cut, sanded, or scraped to the point where they produce dust and presumably airborne asbestos fibers. During the course of renovation or demolition, both of these categories become "regulated asbestos-containing materials" (RACM).
What to Look For
It is not easy to identify asbestos-containing materials in use. But it is safe to assume any material of an appropriate age was likely made with asbestos. To really know if a material contains asbestos, it is best to hire a professional to sample the material in question, who then sends collected samples to a laboratory certified by the Environmental Protection Agency for examination. Then an experienced technician uses a polarized microscope to located asbestos fibers.
Warm Regards-
Mike & Gayle
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