How to spot asbestos in poor condition & what to do about it InspectAPedia® -
How to spot asbestos in poor or damaged condition in buildings & what to do about it
How to spot evidence of improper asbestos removal efforts
Abandoned asbestos pipe insulation or duct materials
Photographs of asbestos in building products
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This page discusses how to spot asbestos in poor or damaged condition in buildings & what to do about it, including
identification of amateur or improper asbestos "abatement" projects that failed to properly remove materials or that left abandoned
asbestos materials in place.
This document assists building buyers, owners or inspectors who need to identify asbestos materials (or probable-asbestos) in buildings by simple
visual inspection. We provide photographs and descriptive text of asbestos insulation and other asbestos-containing products
to permit identification of definite, probable, or possible asbestos materials in buildings.
While an expert lab test using polarized light microscopy may be needed to identify the specific type of
asbestos fiber, or to identify the presence of asbestos in air or dust samples, many asbestos-containing building products
not only are obvious and easy to recognize, but since there were not other look-alike products that were not asbestos, a visual identification of this material can be virtually a certainty in many cases.
Also see Asbestos HVAC Ducts a field identification guide to
visual detection of asbestos in and on heating and cooling system ducts and flue vents. Also see Micro-Photographs of Dust from the World Trade Center collapse following the
9/11/01 attack. Links to U.S. government and other authoritative research and advice are included.
Asbestos insulation in poor condition like this water pipe asbestos insulation in an 1875 home (falling off, or mechanically damaged) should be removed and properly disposed-of by an asbestos abatement professional.
INCOMPLETE, AMATEUR REMOVAL - Asbestos on heating pipes - incomplete, amateur removal - highly suspect for contamination
Fuzzy scraps of asbestos-suspect material left on a rusty steel heating pipe in a basement indicate that
asbestos insulation was removed without cleaning and sealing the surface of the pipe.
Here is a close up of asbestos debris left on a heating pipe. The insulation was simply removed without cleaning.
This is another heating pipe elbow which was not cleaned of asbestos insulation. Unlike the "corrugated paper" asbestos
insulation used on horizontal pipe runs, an asbestos paste was used at pipe elbows and on other irregular shapes.
Here is a close up of asbestos insulation paste left on a pipe elbow, evidence of amateur workmanship during
an asbestos insulation remediation.
The orangish fibrous material under the
white covering on the straight pipe runs is fiberglass pipe insulation which has been added.
But the remaining paste on the
elbow tells us that the pipes were not cleaned and washed during the remediation.
Someone installed fiberglass heating pipe insulation around the elbow but left
the elbow un-cleaned.
The building owner had been told that a proper asbestos removal had been performed and that all pipes were re-insulated.
A professional asbestos abatement company would have washed these pipes and probably painted them with a sealant.
Finding scraps of
asbestos insulation material left on heating pipes (such as in these photos)
is a strong indicator that removal was done by an amateur. In such cases I recommend that the
building air and settled dust on surfaces be tested for asbestos contamination since removal was by amateurs.
Any air handling equipment
(such as a central air conditioning system) should also be checked for asbestos fiber contamination.
When we see evidence of short cuts and amateur workmanship in an asbestos remediation project we're worried that
there may have been asbestos contamination of other site or building areas.
So the expense to "correct" this condition,
if testing confirms cross-contamination of the site with asbestos fibers, could be greater than the simple cost to
clean and re-insulate the piping. Professional cleaning of other building areas could be needed.
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06/07: thanks for photographs of transite asbestos heating ducts, courtesy of Thomas Hauswirth, Managing Member of Beacon Fine Home Inspections, LLC and (in 2007) Vice President, Connecticut Association of Home Inspectors
Ph. 860-526-3355 Fax 860-526-2942 beaconinspections@sbcglobal.net
Fiberglass: Indoor Air Quality Investigations: Health Concerns About Airborne Fiberglass: Fiberglass in Indoor Air from HVAC ducts, and Building Insulation
Enviro-Scare: Electric Power Lines, Electromagnetic Fields, Cancer Risk, & "Enviro-Scare" - The Normal Curve Cycle of Public Fear of Environmental Issues
Dust from the World Trade Center collapse following the 9/11/01 attack: the lower floors of this building contained spray-on fire-proofing asbestos materials.
Asbestos Information Links: Asbestos Detection, Testing, Recognition, Hazards, Field Photos, and Information Sources, including
health-related links such as legal services and information about mesothelioma and other cancers.
Asbestos Identification and Testing References
Asbestos Identification, Walter C.McCrone, McCrone Research Institute, Chicago, IL.1987 ISBN 0-904962-11-3. Dr. McCrone literally "wrote the book" on asbestos identification procedures which formed
the basis for current work by asbestos identification laboratories.
Stanton, .F., et al., National Bureau of Standards Special Publication 506: 143-151
Pott, F., Staub-Reinhalf Luft 38, 486-490 (1978) cited by McCrone
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