Hello,
We gained access to a summer house and started tearing up old plastic floors haphazardly before we read and realized they could contain asbestos. Said and done, we've taken samples from various areas, and it turned out there is asbestos on the stairs.
The analysis says the following: the backside of the carpet (the white part) is a so-called asbestos backing with a very high concentration of asbestos. If it's glued down, it's difficult to remove, as it tends to come apart and remain on the substrate.
I'm attaching some pictures of how it looks now. So, we've torn off the plastic mat that was on top, and what remains is this that resembles paper and contains asbestos.
We will, of course, hire a company for remediation, but my question is whether we should avoid being in the house at all until it’s cleaned up? Is asbestos now flying around throughout the house?
We gained access to a summer house and started tearing up old plastic floors haphazardly before we read and realized they could contain asbestos. Said and done, we've taken samples from various areas, and it turned out there is asbestos on the stairs.
The analysis says the following: the backside of the carpet (the white part) is a so-called asbestos backing with a very high concentration of asbestos. If it's glued down, it's difficult to remove, as it tends to come apart and remain on the substrate.
I'm attaching some pictures of how it looks now. So, we've torn off the plastic mat that was on top, and what remains is this that resembles paper and contains asbestos.
We will, of course, hire a company for remediation, but my question is whether we should avoid being in the house at all until it’s cleaned up? Is asbestos now flying around throughout the house?
I can answer what I would have done: wiped around "just in case" and then lived my life as usual.
Probably hired someone who knows what they're doing. Sanding/scraping that kind of thing I probably wouldn't have done at home myself.raveper said:
If I needed to spend a lot of time in the house, I would have made sure to bind the asbestos with paint/varnish and taped milk paper over it in anticipation of remediation. If I wasn't planning for remediation, I would have done the same but instead of milk paper, I would have covered with the material I intended to use on the stairs.
Try wetting it with something sticky without surface tension. Linolja and lacknafta, for example. Then simply scrape it off with a putty knife or paint scraper.
Staffans
Staffans
Thank you for all the answers!
We got in touch with a company that recommended covering all the stairs with some kind of paper that you lay on the floor when painting and tape it down so that it pulls up more when we walk on it.
Then also wet wipe the floors and walls in the vicinity and then throw away the mop/cloths.
We did that and are now waiting for the company to do a permanent cleanup.
We got in touch with a company that recommended covering all the stairs with some kind of paper that you lay on the floor when painting and tape it down so that it pulls up more when we walk on it.
Then also wet wipe the floors and walls in the vicinity and then throw away the mop/cloths.
We did that and are now waiting for the company to do a permanent cleanup.