[kp2171]

Wife wants me to remove popcorn ceiling from our 1956 ranch. Have heard that from this era it may contain asbestos.

Have worked with all sorts of nasty stuff and I know usually dangers with stuff like this is usually repeated, long term exposure. Breathe in enough sand or grain dust over time and your lungs won't like it. But I have a 20 mo old scampering around and I'd like someone who does work with this to give me the go ahead.

I assume that as long as I minimize dust (wet it down before scraping?) and cleanup well that I'll have no good reason to deny my wife her wish.

Any thoughts?

[labman]

I doubt anyone here is in the business. From my reading, I think the dangers are very over rated, as you said long term extensive exposure. Still, no reason to take chances. Wet it down good. Have the windows open. Keep the 20 month old out of the room. Perhaps off at a friend's house would be better. Do the job conditional on your wife taking it out somewhere?

Asbestos is one more area where our legal profession and junk science is out of control and costing society billions over nothing.

[JCH]

Here's a site which you should become familiar with if you're going to attempt asbestos removal. http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/asbestos/
And yes someone here has worked in the business and I must caution anyone attempting this type of work.
First I've observed, on many occasion, asbestos removal. The procedures and caution indicatesto me the danger of asbsetos. Workers performing this task have hooded coverall, proper cartridge dust mask, latex gloves tapes at the sleeves, eye goggles, covers for their work boots, sealed and contained work area and finally a make shift shower before exiting work area.
I would also guess that when you say wetting the asbestos it wouldn't be hosing it down because that would be the right way... and as far as opening windows well this would also mean air born dust and therefore your home would be infested with asbestos dust and very dangerous to your whole family.
Asbestos isn't dangerous as long as it's not disturbed but if you really need to remove your "popcorn ceiling" then I would recommend hiring professionals for your family's sake.
JC

[labman]

Having asbestos professionally removed would be extremely expensive. That is because it is highly regulated despite no real science supporting the dangers. I went to www.junkscience.com and did a search on asbestos, http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=asb...unkscience.com

It turned up numerous references showing the dangers of asbestos being greatly exaggerated. You have to remember, there are many people getting filthy rich over the asbestos hysteria. It is a great bonanza for the trial lawyers. Their campaign contributions have elected politicians who have passed ludicrous laws calling for very expensive removal. Others are making a good living complying with the unnecessary procedures legally required to remove it.

There are many people here giving their time freely to help others. This includes professionals in some fields. A couple of the best are Speedball1, a retired plumber, and ScottGem and IT professional. Occasionally I see here and other sites, professionals that use scare tactics to keep people from fixing their own problems in order to promote their own job security. As an example, ''and as far as opening windows well this would also mean air born dust and therefore your home would be infested with asbestos dust and very dangerous to your whole family. '' Yeah, bringing fresh air in will help carry the dust out dispersing harmlessly in the outdoors.

[JCH]

Unless the home owner is willing to hose down his area in question then there would obviously be asbestos dust flowing... sometimes people should pay attention and give proper advice and leave some issues alone before jumping to conclusion.
The greatest concern on this topic is the health risk.
But hey we are only here to give advice from experience and the monetary issues should be left aside if it affect anyone health especially a 20mth old child... need I say more...

[labman]

America is wasting billions over the hysterical exaggeration of the dangers of asbestos, radon, and lead in paint. The lawyers, politicians, bureaucrats, contractors, and unions are working together to take care of themselves at the expense of the rest of us. I was working as a chemist in the paint industry when the current absurd law on lead in paint was passed. I forget what year the law went into effect, but it lower the value of houses built before then ahd has lead to expansive remediation. The new law defined any paint having over 0.06% as lead based paint. The standards in effect at the time limited the lead in paint for residential use to 0.5%. There was hard, undisputed scientific data at the time showing modern paints with less than 2% lead had no effect on blood lead levels. Most of the true lead based paint that is causing problems goes back to the 30's. The new law was difficult to comply with and imposed great costs on the paint manufacturers. We are spending billions on zero, 0, nil, none, zip health benefits.

Of course, the anti business news media ignores this huge scam.

You are more likely to suffer from falling off the ladder while working on it, than from any asbestos dust. Naturally ''those in the business'' want to continue to give the consumers and taxpayers the business. Rip off, scam, fraud, scandal.

[JCH]

Btw this isn't about lead paint or costs.. it's a health issue and throughout my 27yrs of work experience, I can only say asbestos is taken serioulsy regardless of any findings... maybe in 20-30 yrs we'll know more but for now proceed with caution... that's my final advice...

[labman]

So you are saying that since we don't have data showing dangers from casual, light exposure to asbestos, we could continue to waste billions over the next 20 years?

[johnnyburns]

Breathing asbestos fibers can cause lung cancer and other diseases.
When disturbed, asbestos breaks down into fibers up to 1,200 times thinner than a human hair. If released into the air,
Asbestos cannot be seen and quickly circulates through your home. When inhaled, these fibers become trapped in lung
Tissues. Medical research tells us that up to 30 years after inhalation, asbestos fibers can cause lung cancer,
Mesothelioma, a related terminal cancer of the tissue that lines the chest cavity, and asbestosis, a condition that
Can lead to breathing problems and heart failure.

There is no known safe level of asbestos exposure. That's why medical, environmental health, and regulatory organizations
Stress the need to protect health by minimizing exposure to airborne asbestos fibers, particularly at elevated levels,
Such as can occur during a remodeling project.

[kp2171]

Yeah. Well. Considering the original post was about 7+ years ago, any "new" advice is a little late.


Ceiling was removed years ago.

Ov-ah.

Close this thread pretty pretty please