Identifying asbestos in my walls

management

Ok this isn't over yet. I learning more about my 110 year old house. Apparently over the years when remodeling was taken place asbestos abatement was done just in the small area. See first picture of boiler pipes.



Then after opening additional walls found some pipes that were wrapped with some sort of old insulation that I can assume is more asbestos. See the next two pictures of other boiler pipes.





I can see that the white stuff is asbestos but not quite sure how to remove. I plan on getting 6 mil thick bags plastic to confine the area, respirators, and soapy water to spray it. But that stuff looks tough.

Anyway to get this stuff off with out significant dust from having to possibly cut this stuff off? or can it be drenched and slide off?

Thanks.

Ron6519

There are 2 separate issues with this insulation. The straight pipe is usually covered with an asbestos impregnated cardboard. These are held in place with a metal banded strapping. You unbend the strapping and remove it. The cover is open on one side and you open it at the split and it lifts off pretty easily.
The other part is the asbestos that encases the fittings. This needs to be removed by breaking it off the fittings in pieces. While both aspects need to be wetted to keep the dust down, the fittings need to be especially soaked.
Care needs to be taken in dealing with this. Others can deal with the precautions.

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Ron
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
B. Franklin 1759

joed

That pipe wrap looks very much like asbestos. If it is that is the type that needs proper remediation. It is not DIY. It is one of the dangerous types with friable fibers that can fly around and contaminate your whole house.

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Do not PM with questions that can be asked in a forum. I will not respond.

Evstarr

I think we are overlooking something in and amongst all the arguing... In many locales, if not most, it is illegal and punishable with hefty fines if you are found to have abated asbestos on your own, regardless if you did it correctly or not.

Ron6519

I take issue with a few things in this post.
There was no arguing.
Homeowners can remove asbestos in there own homes in many places, even California, as long as they follow the states guidelines.
Here's a link to the California regulations.
http://www.vcapcd.org/asbestos.htm

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Ron
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
B. Franklin 1759

mnp13

In Rochester, NY, as a home owner you can remove anything you want to from your own home. That's what I was told word for word by the inspector at my last house.

If you're worried about safety, you can also just seal it in place.

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Michelle

Fixing the re-muddling one room at a time...

Maintenance 6

Practically everywhere in the U. S. you can remove asbestos from your own home. No one elses unless you are licensed. The problem you have is transport and disposal. It is a crime to improperly transport the stuff and it is highly punishable to improperly dispose of it. That's the catch. It is very good insulation. If you can leave it in place and encaspulate it, that is a much cheaper and safer option. Pipe insulation is highly friable and it is easy to contaminate a large area with a high volume of fibers. If you do remove it, you'll need to have somebody do proper disposal.

Daniel Holzman

There are numerous landfills in the U.S. that will accept asbestos containing waste, you just have to pay the tipping fee. It is illegal to dispose of asbestos containing material (acm) at a landfill not licensed to accept acm. It is also illegal to put acm out on the curb for pickup by your local trash collector, even if you label it. Unfortunately, that is how some people elect to get rid of it.

mgp roofing

That definitely looks like asbstos. Get the pros to deal with it, if you do it yourself & get it wrong, the dust contamination could cost HUGE amounts of money to have cleaned up. I have experience in dealing with this stuff, its definitely not a job to DIY.

management

So I have one company coming tomorrow and two coming the day after to provide estimates for abatement.

My coworker had abatement done in 1999 and he said the whole home was ~$4k. I only need less than 20ft of boiler pipe insulation removed.

I had the homeowner remove about 6ft from a pipe and it cost here $3.3k. Crazy.

I'll let you all know what they say. Thanks.

management

Ok so I had two companies so far come in and prove quotes. I will see a third in a little over 2 hours from now.

The difference in price is shocking to me. My expectation was anywhere from $5k to $10k (which I was dreading) based on online reports, etc.

Company 1 Quote: ~$2.7k
Company 2 Quote: $8.9k

What is with the large difference in price here? They both say that they use bag gloves. The former states that if it is hard to reach they do wet then bulk removal but everything else bag gloves. The former does not have a website but has all the insurances with the local build & codes office (they seem to know who the company is) and was recommended by a different environmental place that does the air monitoring. These prices does not include air monitoring due to the state requiring that the abatement company not do the monitoring and have the home owner get someone else. I guess that is for protection.

If the third quote is high like the second do you all see any issues going with the first quote? I questioned the guy and he is knowledgeable. Explained and answered every question.

Thanks for the help.

P.S. The work includes probably 26 linear ft/pipe of boiler piping insulation. There is about 4 pipes. They will remove sheet rock to get to all the piping.

mnp13

That is a HUGE difference for the exact same work. You might consider getting four estimates to see which end of the spectrum you're being hit on. The high might be way out of wack, not the low. Who knows.

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Michelle

Fixing the re-muddling one room at a time...

management

So if this third comes in high then there are issues with the low quote? What questions would you ask yourself?

management

Ok so I just met with another company. They also were knowledgable and the owner came out to do the estimate. Very talkative.

He said he would be comfortable quoting the job for $2600 but he was the only that stated that there might be additional pipes with asbestos running through a large portion of the ceiling branching of the 4 25ft of piping. He proposes having a total $3k total for everything just in case. So extra $400.

Still waiting on the quote but if it's what he said I think I'm going with them. I have no idea what company 2 is think with $8.9k.

I'm glad this didn't cost around $5k.

mnp13

What would I ask myself? If they have all of the certifications and insurance they claim to. If they dispose of the waste properly. Where they are cutting corners.

If multiple estimates are three times more than the lowest then something probably isn't right. That's not a "hard and fast" rule of course, but when you're messing with very dangerous stuff like disturbed asbestos I'd be concerned.

When I have work estimated and all three are within 10 - 15 percent of each other that's one thing. But three times more or less than half? Something isnt quite right. There is always the possibility of them quoting the work but not really wanting it, which happens as well.

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Michelle

Fixing the re-muddling one room at a time...