Charlotte asbestos removal
You cannot tell whether a material contains asbestos by looking at it. A small sample is cut from each suspect material, sealed, and sent to a laboratory, which reports whether asbestos is present and roughly how much. Everything else on this site depends on that result: what has to come out, what can stay, and what notice or permit the job needs.
A sample is a small piece cut from a suspect material, about the size of a thumbnail, wetted first so it does not shed, and sealed in its own labelled bag. The lab examines it, usually by polarized light microscopy (PLM), and reports which type of asbestos is present, if any, and roughly what percentage of the material it makes up. Under federal rules, a material with more than 1 percent asbestos is treated as asbestos-containing.
Every distinct material is sampled separately, because each one can test differently: the ceiling texture, the floor tile, the adhesive under it, the joint compound, the pipe wrap. A house is not "positive" or "negative". Its 9-inch tile can contain asbestos while the ceiling above it does not. A clear survey lists every material, where it was taken, and its result.
Some materials, notably vinyl floor tile and other products where the fibres are bound up in plastic or asphalt, can hide asbestos from the standard microscope method. When a result like that comes back negative, labs may recommend a more sensitive test, such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), before the material is treated as clean.
Testing before a remodel is about not disturbing something you would rather have left alone. Testing before a demolition is usually required: in Mecklenburg County, a demolition notice to Mecklenburg County Air Quality must include an asbestos inspection report, and outside Mecklenburg the state Health Hazards Control Unit recommends an inspection before any renovation or demolition, single-family homes included. In North Carolina, inspections on regulated projects have to be carried out by state-accredited inspectors.
A written list of each material sampled, its location, and the lab result, with a plain explanation of what the results mean for your project. If everything comes back clean, that is the end of the job.
How long does it take? Sampling a typical house takes an hour or two on site. Standard lab turnaround is a few business days; faster turnaround usually costs more.
These often turn up in the same house, or the same remodel:
Textured ceilings that test positive are wetted, scraped and bagged inside sealed containment, and the ceiling is left ready for finishing.
Read more →Old 9-inch vinyl tile and the black cutback adhesive under it, taken up before new flooring goes down.
Read more →Wrap on old heating pipes, boilers and duct joints removed before an HVAC change-out, often by glovebag so the room stays in use.
Read more →Free to ask
Don't sand, scrape or drill it. A quick description is enough to start.
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