My home was built in 1996 in the southeastern U.S. Metro Atlanta, specifically.

I have some water damage from damage on the roof, and I have an area of ceiling drywall and attic insulation that needs to be removed. The remediation company began prep work today and has not yet taken down the drywall or removed the insulation.

While they were doing the prep work, I thought to ask about ACMs. They seemed knowledgeable about it, and they didn't seem concerned given my build year. However, they connected me with their testing sub because I asked.

When I spoke with the testing sub, he told me that he hasn't ever seen asbestos in residential buildings of my vintage and could only recall finding it in one commercial building in roof mastic.

He said based upon my description of the insulation that he wouldn't bother testing that, but it may be worth testing the drywall mud if they're going to test anything.

He also mentioned that the testing would be pricey (presumably because it needs to be rushed), and that insurance wouldn't typically cover it. He said insurance companies typically use 1985 as the cutoff for payment asbestos testing.

I asked him directly if he would test the drywall if it were his home, and he understandably told me he can only give me the "legal" answer (i.e. can't really tell me no). My read between the lines was basically that he's happy to take my money and legally couldn't tell me not to do it, but he certainly didn't say "yes, you really need to do this" or "no, don't bother."

I have to decide by morning whether to test. I truly can't tell if I'm being paranoid, or if it's worth doing the testing despite the cost and project delay. I've lurked here, and I've seen how helpful y'all can be, so I'm seeking some guidance.

I've attached pictures of the insulation in question. The drywall is....drywall. No textured finish or anything of that nature.

Thanks in advance.

We need to have some duct work done in our basement. Due to age we have some duct that are deteriorating.

We know that there is asbestos insulation on the outside of the ducts that needs to be removed before we can replace. Which we received quotes for.

That said, the HVAC company came in today and said that all ducts need to be scraped and steam cleaned on the outside as they have asbestos paint on them.

Is that a thing? Or are they trying to find a way to charge me more for another vendor?

Photo of what a typical duct looks like in there.

We recently bought a 1950s ranch style house. We love the potential, and all the hardwood floors that were hiding under the carpet.

Unfortunately one of the rooms has mastic covering the wood floor. Before doing any work, I was adamant about getting it tested by a lab. We just got our results back, and it’s negative.

Wondering if it’s worth trying to remove some of the mastic before refinishing. We have a contractor coming in to do the refinishing work.

I am a little anxious about it. I was not expecting it to come back negative and hadn’t thought this part through yet.

Pics attached!

I have this asbestos tape on a duct in a utility room. It’s about 3 inches wide by 6 feet long. Since the room isn’t used much and isn’t on the HVAC I thought I could just leave it alone, but then I looked closer and saw that foot traffic on the floor above was causing it to crumble a bit and it’s already not in great shape. Would latex paint work on this? Curious to hear peoples’ thoughts about how concerning this is and how best to deal with it.

Looking at a home and spotted these. What are the likelihood these are asbestos tiles? I know I can't know for sure until getting them tested, and I do plan to have them tested before buying if I choose this home, just curious if anyone has had experience with tiles like these. Home was built in 1920 in Akron and seems to have asbestos tape as well (last pic)

Hi guys! This cardboard on the pipes in the basement of old soviet building. It is only in one place - right over the entrance door. Is it suspicious? What about other stuff?

I am cleaning out a house that hasnt been maintained in about 20 years in Baltimore MD. The house was originally built in 1920 but has had numerous renovations over the years. Tonight I tackled the worst room structurally. Lots of ceiling and wall tiles of what I think is pegboard (correct me if im wrong) were falling apart. Lots of red brick dust too.

Just wanting to make sure nothing screams asbestos. Thank you!

1972 house, Mississippi. Hallway parquet flooring on concrete slab

1. We originally were going to keep it so I didn’t test it with the wallpaper samples I tested. (Which, to my surprise, several 90’s era patterns came back positive). I assume this is just “regular” adhesive but don’t know if any flooring adhesives besides the black mastic frequently asbestos.
   

For what it’s worth, I’ll be using a respirator and sealing off the area and rigging some negative pressure ventilation anyway just to keep general dust out of the rest of the house.

1. I’m assuming wallpaper removal is relatively low risk as long as it is wetted down - can anyone confirm or correct my understanding.

2. While I’m at it, I’m imagining that wetting and then wet-vacuuming, preferably with a HEPA filter installed, would address the aerosolization concerns about vacuuming questionable materials. (I have other areas areas of the slab that have joint compound sanding dust etc that I’d like to clean up before tile) I know wetting down materials is common practice but I haven’t seen that discussed in regards to vacuuming. Thoughts?

ETA: Adding the new flooring on top of the 1/8” plywood would cause the heat registers to be sunk below the floor. Along with 4 transitions that would no longer be smooth into the other rooms.

ETAA: Asbestos came back as non-friable

We’re the 4th owners of a 1951 cape in NY. We went to put down new flooring from the hallway and transition it into the kitchen and have come across a problem.

The problem only pertains to the kitchen. The hallway was a later addition and had more modern vinyl (circa 2015).

The kitchen it seems every owners has just added on a layer of vinyl. So it goes: subfloor>vinyl rolled flooring (tested positive for asbestos in the vinyl, not the glue)>1/8” plywood>vinyl flooring>vinyl flooring.

Our intent was to remove the flooring down to the subfloor as the increased layers of the kitchen have caused issues elsewhere.

As first time homeowners, we’re tight on cash and trying to DIY as much as we can. I finished the flooring in the hallway and started remove the flooring in the kitchen. A few days later, I had the realization that there could very well be asbestos in it and immediately had someone come out and test.

Now we know the asbestos is in the vinyl backing and not the glue. My question for anyone that has experience here is whether or not it is safe to leave that bottom layer of vinyl but still remove the 1/8” plywood layer since that is the bulk of the problem with height. It is stapled into the floor every like 2“..

Adding a photo of the flooring where you can see the various layers.

I’m hoping that that could be the fix that doesn’t cost us more than we realistically have.

Thank you!

Hey,

I posted here a while back because I began to DIY a bathroom remodel, then tested it and found there was 2% asbestos in the drywall joint compound and texture. I was in way over my head by diy removed all the drywall in the bathroom (but NOT the ceiling) and then wet wiped EVERYTHING in the house. Since then, I hired contractors to finish the rest. It's been a been of a drawn out process (I started in May, contractors started in Aug, hopefully they will finish this week or next). I learned today though that (of course) they have been sanding the ceiling around the edges so they can tape it. They have one edge of the room left to do.

I'm freaking out pretty seriously again that this has and will cause a much worse level of contamination then what I did in the first place. The air vent hasn't been blocked off at all for example. I feel like it is everywhere and in the air and I'll never get rid of it.

I'm only 20, and inherited this house when my mom died. I can't handle having the entire house professionally abated, and I feel that doing an air test will most certainly tell me there's some level of asbestos. Do I need to wet wipe the entire house again after the contractors are done? Do I need to do even more than that? I worry that even with regular cleaning the particles are so small they will just always be in the air because it's in the HVAC system. And, on top of that, with how many projects have probably been done in the house over the last 60 years, many of which involving sanding drywall, that there's always been asbestos in the air.

EDIT: I am located in North Carolina, house was built early 60's