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Reply to "Asbestos tiles—how to deal?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Just leave it.  There will not be any dust.  The asbestos is encapsulated within the tile and/or mastic.  It's not going anywhere.  People tile over it, put down flooring over it, or carpet.  It's all good except you always have to disclose it's there when you sell.

To remove it yourself.  Spray the tiles you want to scrape up with water to reduce dust.  Wear a good dust mask and scrape the tiles up.  It's really no big deal.

Or, have an abatement company do the same thing while making a big show of putting up air curtains, air monitors and wearing space suits and charging you a fortune.  [/quote]

I would do no such thing without negative pressure and containment. You can set it up ourselves but it’s a pain.

I’ve always been a little skeptical about the leave it in place approaches. I think if the advice was to take it out then people might do it improperly or the economic burden might be too great. But I really didn’t want that in my house. Of course the tile would be  less concerning than insulation.

The biggest question is how you define “friable”? What level of aging and deterioration over time is safe given these are microscopic fibers? I don’t think I’ve ever seen completely brand new looking intact tile and mastic in these types of floors. What if it becomes brittle (vinyl tiles do over time) or frayed over time in tile or in the insulation or that popcorn ceiling, what if there’s a flood or a minor fire, what if the tiles are damaged (a lot of times they are from or around where the equipment is screwed into the floor in basements)?

Each to their own but there are ways to safely address and the best way to know is the asbestos testing in situ afterwards. That is expensive and frankly should be a free service by the city (as mold and any other public health hazard).

In these old houses, demolition to PPs point should be done under containment and negative pressure before the renovation can start. I really am wary of the builder renos for that reason amongst other.[/quote]

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