The neighbor is tearing down an asbestos cement roof!

[Saxsson]

Yes, indeed, the thread is now more self-driven. I am a middle-aged man, so you got that wrong, Staffan. I'm going to pop some popcorn and watch. Some people here behave like ultrafeminists who chant "offended white men" as soon as they're out of arguments, when in fact they are the ones who are offended.

Further, it's alarming how few actually read my responses. I have long stated that I accept the arguments that it's harmless and that I'm, indeed, panic-stricken by asbestos.
It mostly seems about mudslinging. I wonder how long it will be before the thread becomes a Facebook comment section and derails into references to Adolf Hitler!

The original poster raises a relevant question where he clearly has no personal knowledge and has received tons of wise responses, but it is clear that he struggles to stop feeling worried on his own will or understanding!
Then I wonder if the original poster has read all the responses "he" received? (since I also thought it was a younger mother writing)
To write that the neighbor he has is stingy and nonchalant and that those who respond are just interested in mudslinging and not reading what he writes is unjust to anyone involved!
I have personally taken a course for asbestos removal, hence my interest in the question, and am not interested in mudslinging as the original poster clearly seems to think!
The topic is interesting as long as it doesn't get out of hand..... who is offended, original poster?
Now go over to the neighbor and offer him some popcorn, so the neighborly relations don't suffer from this.

 

[Zigge_81]

If the original poster lived right next to the neighbor. How would you have shielded the roof?

No, I wouldn't have shielded the roof but would have asked the neighbor to close vents and windows if they were within 10 meters.

 

[Peken]

Oh what a trash thread with a bunch of opinionated people condemning.

 

[Zigge_81]

The Swedish Work Environment Authority has a lot of information about asbestos removal!

 

[Stuff]

Oh what a trash thread with a bunch of opinionated people condemning.

Yes, a trash thread in the sense that it becomes a lot of unnecessary posts that serve no purpose. It's easy for that to happen when the thread starter already has a fixed opinion about something but still chooses to start a discussion.

 

[Boogiepack]

Hello and thanks for the quick response. I also think that 80 meters should create a lot of air per asbestos fiber, so to speak.

That sounds promising. But comparing asbestos to baby food or gravel roads is just directly wrong and uninformed. As far as I know, baby food is legal and so is gravel road. Asbestos is banned because it causes serious illnesses for those who inhale it (to varying degrees). The old man who is 74 will not die from it, but my son and I are young enough to potentially suffer the consequences in 20 years. However, I understand the thought that there are other risks than asbestos. Living close to a busy road is likely also very bad for the lungs, as is smoking and riding a motorcycle at 300km/h.

Unfortunately, fibers and dust are so small that they can't be seen. It would be interesting to hear opinions from someone in asbestos remediation or someone who has dismantled Eternit themselves. Everything is of course about the concentration in the air, and that in turn depends on how much is released when handling asbestos. THAT fibers are released is 100% certain since some of the tiles have broken.

Yes, that's right. As long as it's legal, it's always healthy and harmless.

 

[Nalleman64]

The danger of asbestos has nothing to do with the internet. It was already banned in 1982, and the internet didn't exist then. May

Yes Staffan, of course I'm worried. It's about my child's health. That he has been exposed to something harmful because of my neighbor's negligence and stinginess.

Oh dear, there are so many children who are overprotected.
It's obviously important to protect, but against real dangers, which is not the case in this instance.

 

[MultiMan]

Remember when we were all tech-positive and built society without overthinking:

Sitting and waiting for the first astronauts to be launched from American soil since Atlantis' last journey in 2011. Advanced technology and visions are wonderful and liberating! Just over 2 hours left. Environmentalists do like electric cars, and the new rocket is built by Elon Musk's SpaceX, so it should attract attention.

 

[larsson r]

The danger of asbestos has nothing to do with the internet. It was banned back in 1982, and the internet didn't exist then. May

Yes Staffan, of course I'm worried. It's about my child's health. That he has been exposed to something harmful because of my neighbor's negligence and stinginess.

Stinginess?

 

[tobost]

Once again, I can't bother to read through the thread, but I see lots of extremely nonchalant posts that seem to suggest that asbestos is completely harmless unless it involves long-term, large exposure. So I'm now contributing by messing up the thread even further by suggesting that you should tone down your nonchalance by about 100%. Asbestos is genuinely dangerous. It's probably entirely harmless when your neighbor takes down their roof unless dust is swirling around for several days. Someone has also claimed that there is asbestos in the air everywhere. Of course, there isn't; what kind of nonsense is that? For example, there is no asbestos in the air in a house that has ventilation pipes made of asbestos. However, I agree that TS has nothing to worry about. I have personally taken down an asbestos-cement facade from my rather large house, and I would claim it didn't produce any dust at all, despite the fact that I broke off and tossed around numerous tiles.

 

[tobost]

By chance, I saw this on YouTube a while ago.

 

[VeVeEss]

As I said, nothing to worry about.

Firstly, very few fibers are released at all when you take down an asbestos-cement roof, even if some panels crack. The fibers that are released quickly disperse in the air, resulting in such a low concentration a few meters away that it cannot be measured. At 80 meters away, it becomes even more impossible to detect any fibers beyond those naturally present in the air.

The groups where a connection between asbestos and a certain type of cancer has been found, worked in asbestos-cement factories and similar environments. They stood and sawed asbestos-cement, embedded in a mist of asbestos fibers, all workday long, year after year. Completely without protective equipment. In that group, there has been a very high mortality rate due to asbestos-related diseases.

The reason you want to be careful even with low doses is that theoretically, you can get cancer from just a single asbestos fiber. But the probability is so low that you would have to search through the entire human population that has ever lived on earth and will live here until the sun collapses. So one should avoid grinding down asbestos-cement in a garden mulcher, even though you probably wouldn't get sick from that either.

A little addition: The asbestos workers who died were almost 100% smokers!

 

[Peken]

Yes, junk thread in the sense that it leads to a lot of unnecessary posts that do not benefit anyone. It's easy for this to happen when the thread starter already has a fixed opinion about something but still chooses to start a discussion.

1177:
”Finds their way into the alveoli”
Asbestos fibers can be as thin as a micrometer in diameter. That is a millionth of a meter or 0.001 millimeters. Therefore, they easily find their way into the lungs, press down into the finest branches, and can eventually end up in the alveoli. There are different types of asbestos fibers. The health risk is determined by the size of the fibers or particles and how the body can handle the fibers. The smaller the fibers, the more dangerous.”

Personally, I find it hard to see such small things, i.e., the more invisible the dust is, the more dangerous it is.

 

[Mats_R]

I note that you in your first post write "74-year-old gubbe". Is that relevant to the issue? What do you want to achieve with that phrasing?

 

[Staffans2000]

I note that in your first post you write "74-year-old man." Is that relevant to the issue at hand? What do you want to achieve with that wording?

That's a valid question. "Stingy" was he too.
Those were two of the claims the OP spread, which convinced me that a middle-aged he, was a young she.