If you have been told by a contractor that you have asbestos in your home, you might be concerned and not know what to do next. Here are some things you can do to keep your family safe after you find out about the asbestos in your house.
Check the Entire House
You might imagine that you only have asbestos in a certain part of your home, especially if a contractor has notified you that asbestos-containing materials were found in the particular area where they were working. However, if your house was built in the years between 1930 and 1950, you may have asbestos in a number of places in your house, no matter where it may have initially been found.
Some things in your house which may contain asbestos are:
- Vinyl flooring
- Roof shingles
- Pipes wrapped with blankets or insulation
- Rooms with textured paint finishes
If you aren't careful to have a professional check your entire house, you might end up dealing with asbestos removal on many occasions. It is better to deal with all of the asbestos-containing materials at once, if you can. If you cannot remove all the asbestos at once, at least you will be aware of what you're dealing with so that you can be careful and avoid disturbing the materials.
Make No Attempts to Remove the Asbestos Yourself
If you are like many people who enjoy doing home improvement projects, you might think that you can take care of the asbestos yourself if you do a little research beforehand. However, that can be a very serious mistake.
Asbestos might not be directly threatening to your lungs as long as it remains intact. However, damaged and torn asbestos may release its microscopic fibers into the air; when that happens, you may breathe those particles into your lungs, which might cause health problems over time. That's why you must avoid making attempts to remove asbestos by yourself. If you are not properly trained to remove materials containing asbestos, you might spread particles and fibers throughout your house.
Not only should you not try to remove asbestos yourself, it is also wise to be careful when cleaning the area that may contain asbestos materials. Avoid vacuuming or sweeping materials that might contain this substance so that asbestos fibers don't float about and spread elsewhere.
Use the information laid out in this article to help you make the right decisions when you find out there is asbestos in your house. Consult a local asbestos removal company like Mac-Bestos Inc so they can answer questions and remove asbestos-containing materials from your home safely.
